report from emma simpson. out on the town the time of year for some festive fun. but hours earlier, the prime minister wasn t delivering much christmas cheer. 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 hospitalisations and, therefore, sadly, in deaths. and that s why it s now the proportionate and the responsible thing to move to plan b in england, while continuing to work closely with our colleagues in the devolved administrations, so we slow the spread of the virus. so, what does plan b mean? from friday, face coverings will be mandatory for most indoor public venues, including theatres and cinemas, but not pubs or restaurants. from monday, you should work from home, if you can. an nhs covid pass will be needed to get into nightclubs and large venues. a negative lateral flow test will also be accepted. and daily testing will replace self isolation for people who come
to an event on december 18th. now a second downing street party in november and a gathering in the education department will also be considered. the health secretary sajid javid denied the government had lost credibility by breaking the rules, as he defended the introduction of new covid restrictions in england. from friday, face coverings will be mandatory for most indoor public venues, including theatres and cinemas but not pubs or restaurants. from monday you should work from home, if you can. an nhs covid pass will be needed to get into nightclubs and large venues. a negative lateral flow test will also be accepted. and daily testing will replace self isolation for people who come into contact with someone infected. mrjavid said the rules would help to address the spreading 0micron variant, which poses a credible risk to the nhs. helen catt reports. it s the 0micron variant of coronavirus and the speed at which it is spreading that
restrictions in england. from friday, face coverings will be mandatory for most indoor public venues, including theatres and cinemas but not pubs or restaurants. from monday you should work from home, if you can. an nhs covid pass will be needed to get into nightclubs and large venues. a negative lateral flow test will also be accepted. and daily testing will replace self isolation )mrjavid said the rules would help to address the spreading omicron variant, which poses a credible risk to the nhs. in the past hour, the uk health security agency has confirmed 249 additional confirmed cases of the omicron variant of covid 19 across the uk. the total number of confirmed covid 19 omicron
including theatres and cinemas, but not pubs or restaurants. from monday, you should work from home, if you can. an nhs covid pass will be needed to get into nightclubs and large venues. a negative lateral flow test will also be accepted. and daily testing will replace self isolation for people who come into contact with someone infected. the government says the measures are necessary. we estimated that it spreads, what s called the doubling rate, is between two and a half to three days, which means the number of community infections are doubling in that time. and what that means is that if it carries on at that rate, you could have1 million infections through community transmission, by end of the month. right from the start, despite the fact that people are tired and despite the fact that people are having a hard time and suffering, genuinely suffering, psychologically and economically and with their health, still, by and large, the levels of adherence are very high indeed.
for most hospitals. nhs england says one in ten patients who are fit to leave can t do so because of problems with social care. winter hasn t fully set in. the covid picture is highly uncertain, but already alarm bells are ringing. hugh pym, bbc news, newcastle. and the bbc has launched an nhs tracker to allow you to find out how your local services are coping in england, wales and scotland. it ll run through the winter. you can find out more at bbc.co.uk/nhstracker. let s go back to the stricter measures being introduced in england to curb the omicron variant. from tomorrow, the use of face coverings will be extended to include cinemas and theatres, and from next wednesday, the nhs covid pass will be needed for entry into large venues, but you can also use a negative lateral flow test. the implementation of plan b has led to condemnation from some