British PM Johnson Imposes COVID ‘Plan B’ to Contain Omicron - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed tougher COVID-19 restrictions in England, ordering people to work from home, wear masks in public places and use vaccine passes to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Undermined by accusations that his staff partied at Downing Street during a Christmas lockdown last year, Johnson said on Wednesday that Omicron was spreading rapidly and he had no choice but to move to “Plan B” while a vaccine booster programme rolls out.

While still a long way from the full lockdowns imposed earlier in the pandemic, the new measures were described as a “hammer blow” for city centre restaurants, cafes and shops that are desperate for Christmas trade to rebuild their finances.

Many lawmakers in Johnson’s own party are also angry with the new restrictions, fearing the effect they will have after the economy shrank by a historic 10 percent last year.

“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 hospitalizations and therefore, sadly, in deaths,” Johnson told a news conference.