MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) The UK government has imposed new COVID-19 restrictions in England, as it switched to Plan B of the strategy for fighting the virus this winter amid growing concerns over the spread of the new omicron strain in the country, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, over 100 cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant were reported in the UK, taking the total of people tested positive for the new strain in the country to 568.
"We know that the remorseless logic of the exponential growth could lead to a big rise in hospitals and therefore, sadly, in deaths. That's why it's now the proportionate and the responsible thing to move to plan B in England, while continuing to work closely with our colleagues in the devolved administrations, so we slow the spread of the virus to buy ourselves the time to get yet more boosters into arms and especially in the older and more vulnerable people, and understand the answers to the key outstanding questions about Omicron," Johnson announced at the press-conference.
The new measures include the reintroduction of the guidance to work from home starting Monday, the extension of legal requirement to wear a face mask to most public indoor settings, and the introduction of mandatory COVID-19 pass in nightclubs and venues where a lot of people gather, according to Johnson.
The prime minister warned that "we don't know yet the Omicron's severity, it's exact rate of transmission, nor indeed the full effectiveness of our vaccines against it," but it has become clear that the new Omicron COVID-19 strain is spreading much faster than the previous delta variant.
The new Omicron COVID-19 variant, first detected in South Africa last month, was recognized by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern, given the high number of mutations it contains, making it potentially more transmissible and dangerous.
The WHO reported on Wednesday that the new Omicron variant may become dominant in Europe by early January.
