(Bloomberg) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the nation on Sunday to provide an update on Britain’s vaccine booster program amid growing concern over a surge in Covid caused by the omicron variant.
The statement, which will be televised at 8 p.m. London time, comes after the U.K. said the number of new cases of the strain had almost doubled on Sunday from a day earlier.
The U.K. has ramped up restrictions in recent days in response to omicron, which studies show is resistant to a two-vaccine protocol. Masks have been made mandatory in more public settings, and Britons have been told to work from home if possible.
Booster shots have been found to convey far greater protection, and the government has stressed the importance of rapidly increasing the number of people who have received a third shot. From Monday, anyone aged 30 or over can get one. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine minister until mid-September, told Sky News on Sunday that speeding up the rollout was “a national endeavor.”
Read More: Two Weeks Into the Omicron Outbreak: Where to From Here?
Omicron arrived in the country at a time when the delta variant was already fueling a surge in cases, despite the U.K. having one of the most successful vaccination programs in the world. There were almost 50,000 new cases confirmed on Sunday and the government expects the omicron variant to become the dominant strain this month.
The U.K. confirmed 1,239 new omicron cases on Sunday, almost double the 633 reported the day before. Zahawi also said a third of new cases in London were now caused by omicron.
Political Constraints
Johnson has pledged to avoid further lockdowns and said that Christmas will be much improved this year compared with 2021 when family gatherings were limited. His ability to implement further controls will be constrained by a growing rebellion among his Conservative allies, with about 60 lawmakers pledging to vote this week against the new mask mandates and other rules announced this month.
A string of damaging allegations around Covid-19 rule-breaking Christmas parties last year have also left him facing pressure from the opposition. A poll Sunday showed the Labour Party has taken its biggest lead since 2014.
The government Sunday also raised its Covid alert to level four from level three in light of the surge in cases. The increase is a response to the growing level of the coronavirus circulating in the community, and the probable pressure it will place on the nation’s health-care resources.
At level four, the Covid epidemic is considered to be in general circulation, transmission is high, and “direct” pressure on health-care services is widespread or rising. At the highest, level five, the U.K. assesses “a material risk of health-care services being directly overwhelmed.”
“People should continue take sensible precautions including ventilating rooms, using face coverings, testing regularly and isolating when symptomatic,” the U.K.’s chief medical officers said in a statement.
Home Testing
The spike in cases comes as the country plans to introduce new daily home testing for people who come into contact with someone who has contracted Covid-19. The government said that fully vaccinated people who come into contact with a Covid-19 case from Tuesday should take a rapid lateral flow test every day for a week to help slow the spread of the omicron variant. Unvaccinated adults must continue to isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with a case.
Almost all the omicron cases are in England, the health agency said. More than 10.7 million people in the U.K. have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. The epidemic has left the U.K. with the second-highest fatality rate in Europe, with almost 150,000 fatilities.
(Adds details on omicron cases in fourth through 10th paragraphs)
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