THERE are no “hard and fast guarantees” more restrictions won’t be imposed this Christmas, Dominic Raab warned today.
The Deputy PM hoped this year would be better than last year – but could not rule out fresh measures to tackle the tsunami of Omicron cases.
He said: “If you look at Omicron, what we actually know is that it spreads very rapidly.
“We have got 104 hospitalisations at the moment which are Omicron-based, we have had 12 deaths. But there’s a time lag in the data and so we don’t know quite how severe it will be.
“The one thing we do know is that those that get the booster jab get over 70% effective protection, which is why the strategy we have got, I believe at the moment subject to being reviewed constantly, is the right one which is encouraging people to get their boosters.
“I think 53% of adults have now had their booster and then proceeding with Plan B, which is encouraging people to work from home where they can and masks in particularly crowded places.”
He added: “I think that is the right strategy until we’ve got firmer, harder data.”
