Households could be banned from mixing under a potential ‘Plan C’ for winter, it has been reported.
The proposals would also see facemasks, orders to work from home and vaccine passports enforced if booster jabs don’t bring the virus under control.
At a Downing Street press conference yesterday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned that cases could reach 100,000 a day this winter and urged people to take precautions such as meeting outdoors, wearing masks and regular testing.
But he said that the pressure on the NHS was not unsustainable as he resisted from NHS bosses for the Government to revert to its Covid winter ‘Plan B’.
Under this strategy, mandatory face masks will return and and people will be told to work from home if cases spiral out of control and the booster jab program fails.
Despite ruling it out for now, Cabinet Office officials are said to be discussing proposals which could form part of a potential Plan C.
This would see clampdowns on gatherings between different households if pressure on hospitals worsen, The Telegraph reports.
A Whitehall source told the newspaper: ‘The focus is very much on measures that can be taken without a major economic impact, so keeping shops, pubs and restaurants open but looking at other ways to reduce the risks.’
Similar measures were in place for much of last year, with people able to meet outdoors in pubs and restaurants once they had reopened, but not visit each other’s homes.
That system was swept aside as England entered a third national lockdown in January, with the ban on household mixing only removed in May.
Yesterday Mr Javid maintained that Plan B contingency measures won’t happen ‘at this point’ but begged Brits not to ‘blow it’.
He urged all people eligible for a third jab come forward, saying the booster is there ‘not just to save lives, but to keep your freedoms too’.
He said: ‘We must all play our part in this national mission, and think about what we can do to make a difference. That means getting the jab when the time comes, whether it’s for Covid-19 or flu.’
Around eight million people are eligible for their Covid vaccine booster but so far only four million have come forward.
Ministers are launching an all-out offensive to drive up this number in a bid to avoid a return to the restrictions.
The NHS is opening pop-up clinics and launching an advertising campaign to get people to book their injections.
But some think this won’t be enough to ward off a winter crisis.
Doctors have accused ministers of being ‘willfully negligent’ after the Health Secretary ruled out immediately implementing the Government’s ‘Plan B’.
Chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said: ‘The Westminster Government said it would enact ‘Plan B’ to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed; as doctors working on the frontline, we can categorically say that time is now.
‘ By the Health Secretary’s own admission we could soon see 100,000 cases a day and we now have the same number of weekly Covid deaths as we had during March, when the country was in lockdown. It is therefore incredibly concerning that he is not willing to take immediate action to save lives and to protect the NHS.’
NHS Confederation boss Matthew Taylor called on ministers to press ahead with its ‘Plan B’ or risk derailing efforts to tackle the enormous backlog of patients.
‘The message from health leaders is clear – it is better to act now, rather than regret it later,’ he said.
Meanwhile, former chief scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport said the current restrictions are probably ‘not holding things’.
He told BBC Newsnight: ‘Am I worried? Yes. It’s very, very delicately poised. We’ve got a lot of cases at the moment. Winter is coming, flu is probably coming. It’s not a good place to be. The evidence is that the current measures are probably not holding things.’
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