Sadiq Khan was last night accused of ‘playing politics’ with the coronavirus crisis by announcing a ‘major incident’ in London in a bid to ‘bounce’ Boris Johnson into ordering further restrictions.
In a dire warning, the Mayor of London said the rapid spread of the Omicron variant had left him ‘incredibly worried’ that the capital could run out of police officers, NHS workers and firefighters.
‘The surge in cases of the Omicron variant across our capital is hugely concerning, so we are once again declaring a major incident because of the threat of Covid-19 to our city,’ he said.
‘The Omicron variant has quickly become dominant with cases increasing rapidly and the number of patients in our hospitals with Covid-19 on the rise again.’
But a Government source angrily accused Mr Khan – who announced a similar major incident in January – of politicising Covid-19.
Sadiq Khan was last night accused of ‘playing politics’ with the coronavirus crisis by announcing a ‘major incident’ in London in a bid to ‘bounce’ Boris Johnson into ordering further restrictions
A Tory MP claimed that the Mayor wanted to forcibly introduce new rules to the Prime Minister when there was an easier solution: vaccinate large numbers of Londoners without having had their jabs.
Omicron is London’s dominant variety. It is also thought to have replaced Delta in England and Scotland.
The number of people in the capital’s hospitals with the virus has risen 28.6 per cent week on week, according to official figures released on Friday.
One Tory MP claimed that the Mayor wanted to forcibly introduce new rules to the Prime Minister when there was a better solution to vacinate large numbers of Londoners without all the jabs.
It was as follows:
- More than 50 per cent of eligible adults over 18 have now had the jab – and 47.2 per cent of those aged over 12.
- Long lines awaited at Chelsea Football Stadium, which is one of the 3,000 injection sites.
- According to official figures, another 90,418 Covid-19 cases were reported, which was higher week-on-week but less than Friday’s. In the 24 hours prior, there had been 125 deaths, which was down from the 132 that occurred last Saturday.
- Omicron patients were hospitalized from 65 to 85. In total, 10,059 Omicron variant cases were reported. This brings the official number of Omicron cases to 24,968, though there may be more. Omicron was fatally poisonous to seven individuals.
- Ministers will deploy ‘Army vaccine ambassadors’ to 60 areas including the Liverpool ONE shopping complex, Brighton Pier and London’s King’s Cross station to speed up the booster rollout;
- The Netherlands entered a new lockdown after it was said Omicron was ‘spreading at lightning speed’;
- After thousands of British families made a dash to avoid new travel restrictions in France, Heathrow bosses asked the Government to provide boosters for critical workers of any age to keep Britain’s biggest airport running;
- On the same weekend as Christmas 2019, shoppers in UK’s high streets were 25% lower than usual, while those shopping at out-of-town outlets dropped almost one-third.
Cabinet Office Minister Stephen Barclay will today chair a meeting of the Cobra committee where officials are expected to consider proposals for a so-called ‘circuit breaker’ to stem the surge of Omicron after Christmas.
These restrictions could prohibit you from meeting others indoors.
Documents released yesterday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) showed scientists believe restrictions ‘similar in scale to the national lockdown’ are required to prevent hospitalisations hitting 3,000 a day.
The Tory MPs who voted against Covid restraints in the Commons rebellion last Wednesday said that too much is being sacrificed to a variant whose effect is still not known.