Covid Plan B ‘still very much under consideration,’ says Sage scientist

It would include reintroducing measures such as compulsory mask-wearing, working from home and vaccine certification being brought in

The government’s “Plan B” for tackling a winter spike in Covid cases is still “very much” under consideration, a scientist on the Sage advisory panel has said.

The plan, drawn up to avoid implementing a winter lockdown, would reintroduce measures such as compulsory mask-wearing and working from home and could see the introduction of vaccine certification.

The NHS last month called on the government to take urgent action to halt the spread of coronavirus in order to avoid a winter crisis.

Asked by LBC if ministers were right not to implement Plan B this winter, Professor Dame Anne Johnson, Sage member and Academy of Medical Sciences president, said: “I think Plan B is still very much, as I understand it, Plan B is still in consideration”.

She added: “We’re only at the beginning of winter and I think if we want to avoid any restrictions in the future, or indeed reduce the damage, we need to think about all the things that we can do, which include not just vaccinating, which is very important, but also going to isolate when we’re sick, get tested.

“A lot of people get infected in their homes, trying to reduce transmission. So, all these things we can continue to do, and all those things are going to reduce the risk of having to go to Plan B.”

The number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test is up by around 7 per cent from last week, with around 155 deaths recorded on November 6.

Patients are currently waiting almost twice as long for a paramedic as they were at the height of the pandemic, with response times for all types of emergencies – including life-threatening ones – at their highest on record.

The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, told Times Radio on Sunday morning that coronavirus should soon be considered “endemic” and added that we will need to learn to live with the virus instead of implementing “draconian lockdowns”.

He said: “I think all of us in the NHS recognise that we are now moving from a situation of a pandemic towards an endemic where we need to live with Covid.

“Everybody in the NHS absolutely recognises that it’s our job to cope as best we can with Covid pressures, without resorting to the very draconian lockdowns that we’ve had to go through before.”

He added NHS staff recognise the “impact” of jabs as vaccinated people are less likely to be admitted to hospital or die from the virus.

“The NHS needs to do absolutely everything it can to avoid having to call on measures to restrict social contact because of the impact of those measures,” he said.

Additional reporting by Press Association