AN EMERGENCY Cobra meeting will be convened in Downing Street today amid dire warnings Omicron will trigger a “tsunami of infections”.
Nicola Sturgeon and other devolved leaders are attending the crunch gathering with top minister Michael Gove to work up a Covid battle plan.
It came after the Scottish First Minister tightened rules to stem the spread of the mutation ripping across Britain and blowing a hole in Christmas hopes.
In a grim warning she said: “To be blunt, because of the much greater and faster transmissibility of this new variant, we may be facing – indeed we may be starting to experience – a potential tsunami of infections.”
At a gloomy press conference she announced entire households of close contacts would have to isolate even if they haven’t got Covid.
She also refused to rule out more restrictions, sparking fears that England could be slapped with new measures stretching beyond Plan B ahead of Christmas.
Downing Street today said there were “no plans” to go harder than Plan B at the moment.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “Obviously we need to keep the characteristics of this variant under review, and we would act if necessary, but there’s no plans to go beyond what we set out.”
He added: “As a responsible Government, of course, you would expect us to… we have an array, already, of options available to us in terms of what measures we can take to mitigate a growth of any variant or virus.
“But there are no plans to go beyond that currently.”
The Government is even still officially urging people to press ahead with bashes and school nativities despite implementing Plan B restrictions.
But both the PM and Chancellor sowed more confusion by both cancelling their Christmas bashes.
No10 also cancelled their Christmas party as it faces growing claims of multiple Downing St bashes last year when rules forbade gatherings.
Business Minister Paul Scully today admitted Britain is facing a “difficult few weeks” with Omicron.
He said: “None of us feel comfortable having to restrict people’s freedoms.
“But we do have a difficult situation to get through over the next few weeks.
“This is a proportionate amount of measures to give us the breathing space to work out what’s happening with the Omicron variant.”
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…
