Covid: Daily tests to replace self-isolation for omicron contacts, Boris Johnson announces

PM wants to ‘minimise disruption to daily life’ as he sets out plan B and other changes

Boris Johnson’s government has changed the rules for contacts of Covid omicron variant cases, saying people can take daily tests to avoid 10 days of self-isolation.

The prime minister announced the move to so-called ‘plan B’ measures in England on Wednesday – bringing back work from home guidance and reintroducing Covid passes for nightclubs and big events.

Mr Johnson also revealed a relaxation in the rules for omicron contacts in a bid to avoid another “pingdemic” in which millions of Britons could potentially be told to stay at home.

“As omicron spreads in the community, we will also introduce daily tests for contacts instead of isolation, so we keep people safe while minimising disruption to daily life,” Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference.

In November the government changed the rules so that contacts of people identified as a suspected or confirmed case of the omicron variant must stay at home and isolate for 10 days.

Tory MP Mark Harper – chair of the Covid Research Group (CRG) of lockdown sceptics – had warned of “big damage” to the economy if the expected rise in omicron cases caused a new pingdemic among contacts.

The prime minister set out the changes at a press conference announcing plan B curbs, warning that the government cannot yet assume omicron is less severe than previous variants.

“While the picture may get better, and I sincerely hope that it will, we know that the remorseless logic of exponential growth could lead to a big rise in hospitalisations and therefore, sadly, in deaths,” he said.

Mr Johnson said his plan B curbs were the “proportionate and responsible” in a bid to “slow the spread of the virus, buy ourselves the time to get yet more boosters into arms”.

As well as asking people across England to work from home from Monday, masks will be made mandatory inside theatres and cinemas from Friday as part of plan B.

Mandatory vaccine “passports” are also being brought back for larger events and nightclubs in seven days time. A negative lateral flow test will also be sufficient proof, Mr Johnson said.

Venues include those indoors that are unseated with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue hosting more than 10,000 people.

Announcing the plan B curbs in the Commons, health secretary Sajid Javid there are now “probably” up to 10,000 people in the UK infected with the new omicron variant.

England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said there was an “incredibly steep” increase in cases in South Africa, where omicron was first detected – pointing to data suggesting “around about a 300% increase in hospitalisations over the last week”.

Prof Whitty told the press conference that the data in the UK was clear that omicron cases here were also going up “incredibly fast now” – with a doubling rate between two and three days.

The top adviser warned: “That is an extraordinarily fast rate and you, therefore, can get with very small numbers to very large numbers really quite quickly.”