At this evening’s televised press conference (Wednesday 8th December) the Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed the button on his Plan B. Top of the agenda was the return of the ‘Work from Home’ guidance. People in England will be told to work from home (if they are able) from Monday 13th December.
Face masks will be made compulsory in most public indoor venues including in cinemas and theatres from this Friday 10th December. They will not be required in pubs, restaurants and gyms.
The NHS Covid Pass will be compulsory to gain access to nightclubs and other large venues where large crowds gather. This will apply to all unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people. Two vaccine doses will be treated as fully-vaccinated but this will be kept under review because of the booster programme. A negative lateral flow test will also be sufficient. This requirement will be rolled out in one week’s time to give businesses time to prepare.
Contacts of Omicron cases will be told to take daily coronavirus tests instead of having to self-isolate. They will have to quarantine if they test positive.
