{"id":120682,"date":"2021-11-27T15:33:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T22:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120682"},"modified":"2021-11-27T15:33:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T22:33:48","slug":"covid-travel-and-mask-rules-tightened-over-omicron-variant-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/27\/covid-travel-and-mask-rules-tightened-over-omicron-variant-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid: Travel and mask rules tightened over Omicron variant in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>By Alex Kleiderman\u00a0 Courtesy <\/strong>BBC News<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>Face coverings will become mandatory again in shops and on public transport in England from next week under a raft of measures to target the new Covid variant, Omicron, the PM has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PCR tests for everyone entering the UK will be introduced and all contacts of new variant cases will have to self-isolate, even if fully jabbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Boris Johnson said Christmas would be &#8220;considerably better&#8221; than in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The measures were &#8220;temporary and precautionary&#8221;, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Johnson announced the restrictions at a Downing Street news conference after it was confirmed that two&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-59445388\">Omicron cases had been detected in Brentwood, Essex, and Nottingham<\/a>. Officials said the cases were linked and connected to travel in southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/explainers-52530518\">How are England&#8217;s Covid rules changing because of Omicron?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-51205344\">How are masks rules being tightened?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/explainers-52544307\">The UK&#8217;s red list is back&#8230; which countries are on it?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The new variant was first reported from South Africa on Wednesday, with early evidence suggesting it has a higher reinfection risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Johnson said: &#8220;Our scientists are learning more hour by hour, and it does appear that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: &#8220;We need to slow down the spread of this variant here in the UK, because measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant rather than stop it all together.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prime minister said the new measures would be reviewed in three weeks, by which time they should have better information about the &#8220;continuing effectiveness&#8221; of vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prime minister said the &#8220;tightening up&#8221; of the mask rules will be outlined by Health Secretary Sajid Javid &#8220;in the next day or so&#8221;. He did not indicate when PCR tests would begin and in a press release the Department of Health only said it was among the measures being &#8220;introduced from next week&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Covid restrictions were tightened across the UK days before Christmas last year amid a surge in cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked by the BBC&#8217;s Iain Watson if the prime minister could say with any confidence whether or not people could keep their Christmas plans this year, Mr Johnson replied: &#8220;We continue to be in a strong position largely thanks to the speed of the vaccine rollout, another booster rollout, and&#8230; I&#8217;m pretty confident to absolutely confident this Christmas will be considerably better than last Christmas.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Countries around the world are introducing travel bans and restrictions on southern African countries in an effort to contain the variant&#8217;s spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the plans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Everyone entering the UK will have to take PCR test within two days of their arrival and self-isolate until they receive a negative result<\/li><li>All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of whether or not they are fully jabbed<\/li><li>Face coverings will be made compulsory in shops and on public transport &#8211; but hospitality settings will be exempt from the changes<\/li><li>The health secretary is to ask advisers to consider rapidly extending boosters, including reducing the gap between the second dose of the vaccine and the booster<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The UK&#8217;s chief medical adviser, Prof Chris Whitty, said there was a &#8220;reasonable chance&#8221; that vaccines could be less effective against the new variant but stressed people who are vaccinated or receive the booster jab will be less likely to become seriously ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation would now need to decide whether to extend the booster vaccine down to adults age 18, and whether a second dose should be offered to children aged 12-15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-55659820\">Do we need new vaccines yet?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-59418127\">How worrying is the new Covid variant?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Paddy Lillis from the shopworkers&#8217; union Usdaw accused ministers of &#8220;flip-flopping on basic and sensible Covid measures&#8221; and said the face covering rules should have been kept in place when restrictions were relaxed in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Retail staff working with the public every day are deeply worried about catching Covid-19 and the arrival of the Omicron variant is a further concern,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carol Popplestone, chairwoman of the Royal College of Nursing, said face coverings were &#8220;something we have already called for and it should not have been a new variant that forced the prime minister to act&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/640\/cpsprodpb\/1226D\/production\/_105894347_grey_line-nc.png\" alt=\"2px presentational grey line\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1536\/cpsprodpb\/5D03\/production\/_112811832__107934183_nickeardley_tr-nc.png\" alt=\"Analysis box by Nick Eardley, political correspondent\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a moment the government had wanted to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve got used to restrictions in England being lifted. But for the first time in months, they&#8217;re now being re-imposed in response to the new variant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And these restrictions could have a significant impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, anyone who goes on holiday will now need to pay for a PCR test and self-isolate until they get a negative result. If Omicron spreads quickly, there could be a lot of people forced to self-isolate for 10 days as close contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the government hasn&#8217;t gone for its full plan B. Masks won&#8217;t be mandatory in hospitality settings in England like they are in Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People aren&#8217;t being told to work from home &#8211; and there still aren&#8217;t plans for vaccine passports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s a sign of the uncertainty and concern in Whitehall that Boris Johnson felt he had to announce these measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/640\/cpsprodpb\/1226D\/production\/_105894347_grey_line-nc.png\" alt=\"2px presentational grey line\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Both the UK cases of the Omicron variant and their households are self-isolating. Additional testing is being carried out at locations where those people were likely to have been infectious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Confirmed cases and contacts are being followed up and requested to isolate and get tested as necessary,&#8221; the Department of Health said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ten countries &#8211; South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia &#8211; are now on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/explainers-52544307\">UK&#8217;s travel red list<\/a>&nbsp;meaning, from Sunday at 04:00 GMT, all arrivals will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other countries are also introducing travel bans and restrictions on southern African countries in an effort to contain the variant&#8217;s spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The average number of daily confirmed Covid cases in the UK began rising again in early November. A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-51768274\">further 39,567 confirmed cases were announced on Saturday.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/cpsprodpb\/8EF2\/production\/_121849563_microsoftteams-image.png\" alt=\"Infographic showing UK Covid case statistics on 27 November 2021\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/2048\/cpsprodpb\/C82C\/production\/_112244215_aroundthebbc-bluebanner-nc.png\" alt=\"Banner Image Reading Around the BBC - Blue\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>IS THERE AN IDEAL POST-COVID DIET?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/food\/articles\/diet_for_covid19_recovery#xtor=CS8-1000-%5BIn_Article_Promo_Box%5D-%5BNews_Promo_In_Article%5D-%5BNews_Promo_In_Article_BBCGeneric%5D-%5BPS_FOOD~N~~A_Covid19FoodRecovery%5D\">How what you eat can help your recovery<\/a><\/li><li>CANADA&#8217;S MISSING CHILDREN:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episode\/m0011vk2\/our-world-canadas-missing-children#xtor=CS8-1000-%5BIn_Article_Promo_Box%5D-%5BNews_Promo_In_Article%5D-%5BNews_Promo_In_Article_BBCGeneric%5D-%5BPS_IPLAYER~N~m0011vk2~P_OurWorldCanada'sMissingChildren%5D\">Who should be held accountable?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alex Kleiderman\u00a0 Courtesy BBC News Face coverings will become mandatory again in shops and on public transport in England from next week under a raft of measures to target the new Covid variant, Omicron, the PM has said. PCR tests for everyone entering the UK will be introduced and all contacts of new variant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}