HAVE WE TURNED A CORNER?

As Covid cases fall and half of over-50s get their boosters...

Sajid javid promised a ‘normal’ Christmas last night as fresh evidence of a slowdown in Covid cases raised hopes that ministers will resist demands for Plan B restrictions.

Figures yesterday provided more signs that the recent virus surge may be slowing, with 36,567 new Covid cases – the lowest in nearly a fortnight.

and last night the NHS announced that half of eligible over-50s have now had their vaccine booster jabs as the rollout finally speeds up. The Health Secretary said the Government did not believe the figures justified a move to Plan B. He insisted the public could have a ‘fantastic Christmas’ as long as Britons come forward for vaccinations.

He added: ‘i think that’s where we’ll be – we’ll have a normal Christmas if we want. Let’s just keep playing our part.’

a technical glitch meant the latest case figures did not include those in Wales, which have been running at around 3,000 a day, but they were much lower than the 49,156 recorded a week earlier. The data also showed 38 deaths.

Meanwhile, new figures showed that at least 6.1million booster doses have now been delivered following pressure on ministers to speed up the rollout. a total of 1.5million people had top-ups last week while a further 900,000 booked in for boosters – up 42 per cent on the previous week.

However, Labour yesterday called for the introduction of Plan B which would involve compulsory face masks, vaccine passports

‘Not the time for new restrictions’

and working from home. Mr javid urged people to come forward for vaccines to ‘play their part’ in preventing another lockdown.

He said: ‘We don’t think the data requires us to move to Plan B…i couldn’t appeal more strongly to people to play their part in Plan a and top of the list are the vaccines.’

He told LBC radio station: ‘We all want a fantastic Christmas and we can ensure that by getting out there and getting our vaccines. There are still some five million people out there that haven’t had a single dose of the vaccine and we need to basically tell them they need to do that. it’s getting darker, we can see it’s getting colder, we will spend more time indoors and so we should think about hand hygiene, about getting tested regularly, especially if you’re going to meet your more vulnerable...perhaps an elderly relative...So if we can do all that, i’m sure that we’re going to have a great Christmas.’

downing Street stressed it was not the time for fresh restrictions and business leaders in London warned that any new working from home order that would cripple the capital’s recovering economy in the run-up to Christmas.

Last year families had their festive plans ruined when surging cases forced Boris johnson to order millions of Britons to stay at home. Scientists have warned that another lockdown could be necessary this winter to relieve pressure on the NHS. although cases now appear to be falling again, hospital admissions have topped 1,000 for two days running, which officials previously indicated would trigger fresh restrictions.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘if the public continue to abide by the behaviours and guidance we have set out, and those eligible get their booster jabs, we believe we can further curb cases and bring rates down, along with hospitalisation and deaths.’ However, Government adviser Professor Peter Openshaw said Plan B measures would be ‘sensible and not very disruptive’. He added: ‘What we’re facing at the moment is unacceptable. We’ve got roughly 1 in 55 people infected, which is an astonishingly high rate compared to most other West European countries.’

dr Nick Scriven, of the Society for acute Medicine, said: ‘areas of the NHS are currently experiencing conditions outside of anyone’s experience and this comes hot on the heels of two years of unrelenting pressure.

‘Virtually all of our acute units are facing extremely high rates of patients needing a hospital bed, but there is also massive pressure due to a lack of capacity as discharge rates from many inpatient areas are simply not keeping pace with the demand.’

Pubs, bars and restaurants warned against Plan B. Kate Nicholls, of UK Hospitality, said: ‘a lot of businesses are still fragile. any knock at this point in time could have an impact on viability. People will just go to the wall.’