No need for tougher English COVID restrictions yet, Javid says

Javid said it was an incredibly challenging time for hospitals as the Omicron variant of coronavirus surges, including among older people, and around six hospital trusts have declared a critical incident due to a shortage of workers. "There's nothing in the data at this point that suggests we need to move away from Plan B," he told reporters, adding that it was too early to say yet about hospitalisations.

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tuesday there was nothing in the data to suggest the government needed to toughen COVID-19 restrictions in England, but that it was still too early to know how hospitals would cope. Javid said it was an incredibly challenging time for hospitals as the Omicron variant of coronavirus surges, including among older people, and around six hospital trusts have declared a critical incident due to a shortage of workers.

"There's nothing in the data at this point that suggests we need to move away from Plan B," he told reporters, adding that it was too early to say yet about hospitalisations. "The infection rate is very, very high." "Sadly we are seeing hospitalisations rise, particularly in older age groups."