Council leader writes to residents as PM warns of ‘tidal wave of Omicron’

Buckinghamshire Council leader Martin Tett has written to residents about how the region will move to the Government’s 'Plan B' Covid-19 response.

In the wake of the emerging threat of new variant Omicron, the Government announced that England would be moving to its ‘Plan B’ on Wednesday last week.

Mr Tett said: “The Government’s view is that it is better to be cautious at this stage and slow the spread until more is known and the number of people with booster jabs has increased.”

Plan B includes:

• Working from home if possible
• Extending the legal requirement to wear a face mask in most public indoor venues, including theatres and cinemas
• Making the NHS Covid Pass mandatory for entry into nightclubs, and venues where large crowds gather (including unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people, and any venue with more than 10,000 people)

Plan B can be seen in full here.

Mr Tett confirmed: “These changes won’t affect any of our services.”

On Sunday, the Government’s Chief Medical Officers raised the UK’s Covid-19 threat level to four, which states “transmission is high or rising exponentially.”

Addressing the nation in the evening about the new Covid-19 crisis, the Prime Minister further announced that the target to provide booster jabs to all eligible adults by the end of January will be brought forward to the end of December, meaning around one million people a day will need to be vaccinated.

Mr Johnson said: “No one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming."

“It is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need. But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose, a booster dose, we can all bring our level of protection back up."

He added: "Do not make the mistake of thinking that Omicron can’t hurt you, can’t make you and your loved ones seriously ill. We’ve already seen hospitalisations doubling in a week in South Africa and we have patients with Omicron in hospital in the UK right now. At this point our scientists cannot say that Omicron is less severe.”

On Monday, the first death from Omicron in the UK was announced. At least 10 people, aged between 18-80 have been hospitalised with Omicron around the country.

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