Health Secretary Sajid Javid refuses to rule out new restrictions before Christmas
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has refused to rule out a circuit breaker lockdown being introduced before Christmas.
Mr Javid said that new restrictions are under constant review by the government and its scientific advisors in comments made today on the Andrew Marr show. The Health Secretary warned that as the number of Omicron cases continues to surge the health service is being placed under serious pressure with an influx of new Covid-19 patients coinciding with spiralling staff absences.
When asked whether the government would rule out introducing new rules before Christmas Javid said “there are no guarantees in this pandemic.”
“Its time to be more cautious,” Mr Javid said, warning that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is moving very fast with many unknowns.
According to Sage committee meeting minutes new hospital admissions could be between 3,000 and 10,000 per day and deaths between 600 and 6,000 if no further action is taken.
“Its a very sobering analysis – we take it very seriously,” Javid said, but said the government was awaiting more information before acting because there are still “gaps in the data.”
Yesterday the British Medical Association warned that without new restrictions almost 50,000 doctors, nurses and other NHS staff in England could be off sick with Covid-19 on Christmas day. A circuit breaker lockdown could buy the health service more time to roll out booster vaccinations which can prevent serious illness with around 10 per cent of the population still yet to come forwards to receive a jab.
“They must really think about the damage they are doing to society… they take up hospital beds that could have been used for someone with maybe a heart problem, or maybe someone who is waiting for elective surgery,” Mr Javid said today in comments to Sky News.
“We’ve shown in the past as government in dealing with this pandemic that we will do what is necessary but it’s got to be backed up by the data,” Javid added.
Read more: Covid: Javid confirms community transmission of Omicron variant in England