BORIS Johnson will today hold D-Day talks on Covid as publicans urged him to resist a New Year’s Eve-wrecking lockdown.
The PM is battling calls for new restrictions which would ban indoor drinking in pubs.
Instead, he is leaning towards guidance urging people to be careful over how many others they meet.
But he will make his decision only after a crunch meeting with medical advisers Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance on Covid hospitalisation rates today.
The PM and his advisers will trawl through new numbers on the rates in London — dubbed Omicron ground zero and seen as the canary in the coal mine for Covid.
But as the clock counts down to New Year’s Eve, Government insiders reckon it is growing less likely Parliament will be recalled early to vote on a new lockdown.
Instead, the PM is expected to stick to his plan to roll out boosters at lightning speed.
He may also follow Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon by urging those in England to be cautious over how many people they socialise with if the data is grim.
Desperate publicans yesterday wrote to the PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging against new lockdown measures.
The pair were warned a return to the rule of six, table service only or the closure of indoor hospitality would leave many on the brink of closure.
Christmas takings are already down around 40 per cent on pre-pandemic levels — and a bad New Year’s Eve could push many over the edge, pubs warned.
The letter, organised by the Campaign for Pubs and signed by publicans across the country, said: “We are on the brink — in many cases literally on the verge of being unable to carry on, of walking away and of going under.”
It partly blames the Government’s “confused messaging”.
UK Hospitality head Kate Nicholls said: “We urge the PM to stick to current plans. There is still much we don’t know about Omicron but we do know the economic and social hit lockdowns and restrictions have so caution is right.”
‘Enough is enough’
Latest London hospital rates showed numbers with Covid rocketed by over 90 per cent in a week — hitting 386 on December 22.
According to reports, if the number hits 400 a day then the country is in big trouble, although health sources say they do not recognise this figure.
Government insiders said schools will definitely reopen next month.
And the booster programme has been going well, with vaccination centres jabbing through Christmas. More than 32 million — over 60 per cent of adults in the UK — have had their booster.
Also, encouraging data out last week showed those infected with Omicron were up to 70 per cent less likely to end up in hospital than those with other variants. Downing Street sources said the PM was hoping to stick to his approach of Plan B.
Sir Graham Brady, powerful chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, warned against new restrictions. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said: “It must not happen. Enough is enough.”
