By Ben Kerrigan-
The British Cabinet on Tuesday have discussed further restrictions, with ministers understood to be split over whether to mandate vaccine passports.
Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, and Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, are both believed to have supported the idea, but others objcting strongly to it.
The timing of the cabinet’s idea to impose restrictions couldn’t come at a worst time for te government, after the embrassing revelations that ministers broke lockdown rules last christmas by having a party in Downing Street.
The fact ministers broke coronavirus rules doesn’t mean they should sit back and let the new variant run rampant, but it does mean we have to sit back and carefully scrutinise theirt actions and assess the possible reasons they are making the decisions they choose or consider.
Some critics believe that if government ministers did not consider the virus serious enough last christmas to keep social distancing rules themselves, they must explain the grounds on which they expect to impose rules for the public.
Already, the opposition party has emphasised the unacceptable tory party ‘one rule for us and another for the public’ compromises their credibility in every sense.
The best option for Downing Street at this point is the scaling up of the rollout of booster jabs as the best protection from the omicron virus
Officials led by the Covid Taskforce group in the Cabinet Office – are working up options for tighter Covid rules.
Some private companies have also already started to advise staff to work from home.
Mr Johnson has previously said a review of the current rules will be held late next week when more is known about whether omicron can cut through Covid vaccines.
Research from South Africa has shown that people who have antibodies and protection against Covid are less protected against omicron.
The Omicron varaint has been found to be much better at dodging protection from prior infection and vaccines than previous variants including beta and delta.
However, some researchers say the Omicron has failed to completely evade the protection, and the researchers believe vaccination and boosters are “likely to increase the neutralisation level and likely confer protection from severe disease in omicron infection”.
The option of urging people in England to work from home again is named in the Government’s “Plan B” for countering Covid during the autumn and winter. Modelling of the financial impact of work from home guidance over Christmas and into the middle of January has been conducted.
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