Boris Johnson says no new Covid restrictions for now and vows to ‘continue with the path we’re on’

Prime minister pre-empts review on Wednesday – also revealing ‘plan B’ curbs will stay for time being

Boris Johnson has ruled out new Covid restrictions for now, despite hospitals declaring critical incidents and a warning that it is too early to say if Omicron will overwhelm the NHS.

The prime minister pre-empted a review planned for Wednesday, declaring his existing plan B curbs are the “right” approach – also making clear they will remain in place for the time being.

Defending his light-touch approach – in stark contrast to crackdowns in the rest of the UK – Mr Johnson said: “We have got plan B in place, people should never forget that.”

And he added: “The way forward for the country as a whole is to continue with the path that we’re on.

“We’ll keep everything on the review course we keep all measures under review, but the mixture of things that we’re doing at the moment is I think, the right one.”

However, he ducked an invitation to say the beginning of the end of the pandemic is in sight, saying: “It will be absolute folly to say that this thing is all over bar the shouting.”

The comments, on a visit to a vaccination centre in Buckinghamshire, came despite the education secretary acknowledging a “leakage” of Omicron infections from younger to people to over-50s.

“They’re the ones who, if you recall in the earlier waves, ended up in hospital with severe infection and hospitalisation and sadly death rates went up,” Nadhim Zahawi said.

Meanwhile, Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts, warned “the rest of the country” is now facing the intense pressures felt in London since before Christmas.

Despite “encouraging” signs of hospital admissions plateauing in the capital, they were up 75 per cent across England over the past week – and staffing problems were growing.

“Definite worry that hospitalisations could rise again if infection rates rise again. Govt must be ready to move fast on restrictions if needed,” Mr Hopson tweeted.

At least half a dozen of trusts have declared critical incidents, as the NHS battles what one called an “unprecedented” staffing crisis caused by Covid infections.

Mr Johnson admitted “considerable” pressure on the NHS will continue for the “next couple of weeks and maybe more”.

But he said: “No matter how incredibly transmissible Omicron is – and there’s no question it really spreads very, very fast – it is different from previous variants.

“And it does seem pretty conclusively to be less severe than Delta or Alpha, it is putting fewer people into ICU [intensive care units] and, sadly, the people who are getting into ICU are the people who aren’t boosted, so get boosted.”

The prime minister also appeared to reject a US-style cut in the isolation period for people who test positive for coronavirus to five days, warning: “We don’t want to be releasing people back into the workplace when they’re still infectious.

“And the risk is you would increase the numbers of people going back into the workplace who are infectious by a factor of three.

“So you might perversely have a negative effect on the workforce if you see what I mean, so that’s the argument we’re looking at.”