Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has insisted that Christmas parties or school nativity plays should not be cancelled because of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Gatekeepers News reports that Johnson rejected a call from a senior health official to limit socialising in the run-up to Christmas, insisting that he had already put in place a package of “balanced and proportionate measures” in response to the threat posed by the new variant.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief Dr. Jenny Harries said: “If we all decrease our social contacts a little bit, actually that helps to keep the variant at bay.”
Similarly, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid noted that as the country has already confirmed 22 of Omicron, the number is likely to increase and “we have to be realistic” that there is already likely a community transmission of the new strain.
Promising that he will “throw everything” at the booster vaccination campaign to curb the spread of Omicron, Johnson said that everyone eligible would be given a jab of vaccine by the end of January with at least 400 military personnel helping the National Health Service (NHS), and vaccination centres “popping up like Christmas trees”.
Johnson used a Downing Street press conference to promise another “great British vaccination effort” to deliver millions of jabs.
He said: “We don’t want people to cancel such events and we think that, overwhelmingly, the best thing for kids is to be at school, as I have said many times throughout this pandemic.
“What we are doing is trying to take a balanced and proportionate approach to the particular risk that seems to be posed by Omicron – certainly is posed by Omicron – focused in particular on measures at the border.”
“We’re going to be throwing everything at it, in order to ensure that everyone eligible is offered that booster in just over two months,” he added.
The Prime Minister also rejected suggestions that advice on working from home should be reinstated, saying: “This is not something that we think currently is necessary
