some health leaders have pointed to as well of potentially a plateauing in hospitalisation rates in london which has been seen to be the epicentre of the omicron pandemic and wave. keeping an eye on that data will no doubt be absolutely central to whether or not england sees any additional restrictions in the coming weeks. sees any additional restrictions in the coming weeks. chris mason, thank ou. the spread of 0micron is affecting staff levels across the economy. russell norman s restaurant in london was forced to close before christmas after staff numbers fell from 2a to 5. our business reporter katie prescott has been talking to him. the week before christmas was a sort of day to day adventure. we would test our staff every morning when they came in. if they were positive, we would send them home. if they were negative, they were able to come into work but we got to a situation with a staff of 2a, by the 22nd of december, we got to a situation five were left standing so out of 2a
scientists are saying there is a compelling case for taking stronger action, has the prime minister maintained a stake in not introducing more stringent restrictions? i introducing more stringent restrictions? introducing more stringent restrictions? ., ,, restrictions? i don t think so, there is also restrictions? i don t think so, there is also compelling - restrictions? i don t think so, - there is also compelling scientific evidence the other way and the job of politicians is to listen to everyone and make decisions and it seems to me that looking at the data from my area and the forecast for my area, it does not seem necessary to introduce new restrictions, certainly not at this stage. 50 introduce new restrictions, certainly not at this stage. so you are not ruling certainly not at this stage. so you are not ruling them certainly not at this stage. so you are not ruling them out certainly not at this stage. so you are not ruling them out further. certainly not at this
reviewed hour by hour and that he was not ruling anything out. meanwhile the number of covid infections in the uk continues to soar. there were another 91,715 new cases reported yesterday the second highest daily total on record. a number of venues have had to close temporarily including edinburgh castle and london s natural history museum. half of london s west end theatres have cancelled some performances and the mayor of london sadiq khan has called off this year s new year s celebration in the capital because of public safety fears. well, earlier today cabinet minister stephen barclay said the chancellor had met business leaders who are calling for more financial support. he told the bbc the government would say more about this later today . more on it in a moment, but first this report from our political correspondent damian grammaticas. under the microscope now,
tomorrow too. the government decision to not make a decision has received the backing this morning of one of the top scientists in the uk, the person who runs the biomedical research charity the wellcome trust, a former member of sage who has been vocal and critical of the government in the past, threatening to resign from sage because he did not think that government was acting fast enough but he has been on the radio saying it is reasonable for the government to wait 2a or 48 hours saying it is reasonable for the government to wait 24 or 48 hours to wait for the data, particularly on hospitalisation rates in london which has become the omicron epicentre. so i think ministers will be relieved that something that might have looked like indecision yesterday is now getting the thumbs up yesterday is now getting the thumbs up from a scientist and not giving anything was a decision, rather than indecision. ., ~ , ., anything was a decision, rather than indecision. ., ~ , ., . ., indecisio