Sajid Javid refuses to rule out further Covid restrictions before Christmas

Health secretary Sajid Javid has refused to rule out further Covid restrictions before Christmas, saying: “There are no guarantees in this pandemic”.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme to rule out measures before Christmas, he replied: “We are assessing the situation, it’s very fast moving, we’ve seen with Omicron there is a lot we still don’t know."

Pressed explicitly whether he could rule out a circuit breaker or further restrictions before Christmas — in just under a week — he said: “At this point we just have to keep everything under review.”

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