Latest updates: Labour launches social media attacks against prime minister over ‘partygate’, ahead of PMQs this afternoon
- PM accused of lying after No 10 officials caught joking about party
- ‘A sick joke’: what the papers say about the No 10 Christmas party video
- Coronavirus global updates – live
Sir Charles Walker, one of the most lockdownsceptic Tory MPs, has been arguing this morning that partygate will make it “almost impossible” for the government to introduce new mandatory Covid restrictions. (See 9.38am.)
But it is starting to look as if some toughening of the rules or guidance for England is likely. In an interview on the Today programme this morning Prof Neil Ferguson, the leading epidemiologist, said Omicron is likely to overtake Delta and become the dominant variant in the UK before Christmas. He said it was doubling every two or three days. He went on:
It’s likely to overtake Delta before Christmas at this rate, precisely when is hard to say.
We’ll start seeing an impact on overall case numbers – it’s still probably only 2%, 3% of all cases so it’s kind of swamped, but within a week or two we’ll start seeing overall case numbers accelerate quite markedly as well.
New work from home plans are being drawn up by the government as Boris Johnson considers tougher measures to slow the spread of the omicron variant.
Officials working on Covid policy have carried out modelling on the economic impact of urging people to work from home over the Christmas and New Year period, The Telegraph understands.
