In the Prime Minister’s Covid update to the House of Commons yesterday, he confirmed the Government’s plans to stick with Plan B for another three weeks, with a further review before the regulations expire on 26 January.
This means that:
- People in England should carry on working from home whenever they can, wear face coverings on public transport and in most indoor public places, and take a test before going to high-risk venues or meeting the elderly or vulnerable.
Additional measures to strengthen the NHS, protect critical national services and keep supply chains open include:
- Bringing in Nightingale hospitals, increasing stocks of antivirals and providing military support to NHS trusts that require it
- Providing free lateral flow tests for critical workers in infrastructure, national security, transport and food distribution and processing. They are already provided for public services, including education
- Suspending the need to do a PCR test to confirm a positive lateral flow test from Tuesday 11 Jan. Positive lateral flow tests should be recorded on gov.uk and self isolation should begin immediately
- As Omicron is now so prevalent, from Friday 7 Jan, the pre-departure test for travellers will be scrapped. Those returning to England will need to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of Day 2, and if positive, take a PCR test to help identify new variants at the border
Useful links:
How to do a rapid lateral flow test
Travel to England from another country during Coronavirus