LONDON: Britain on Thursday implored people to obey tougher restrictions to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, after revelations about alleged lockdown parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence provoked an outcry over hypocrisy.
Johnson imposed restrictions on England on Wednesday, just hours after apologising for a video apparently showing staff laughing about a party in Downing Street during a 2020 Christmas COVID-19 lockdown when such festivities were banned.
The latest rules, including an order to work from home, wear masks in public and use vaccine passes, fell short of a lockdown, but angered some lawmakers in Johnson’s own party and the retail and leisure sectors, which said they were being hammered.
But revelations of a series of 2020 Christmas gatherings - which Johnson’s spokesman had denied were parties - provoked widespread anger, mockery and disdain due to perceived hypocrisy at the heart of government.
Asked why people - who at the time of the alleged party were prevented from bidding farewell to dying relatives in hospitals - should obey the government, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the rules applied to everyone.
“No-one is exempt. No-one is above the rules, above the law on this,” said Javid, who said he was angry and upset by the video of Downing Street staffers joking about how to swerve potential questions from reporters over a lockdown party.
Britain acted, he said, after receiving tentative scientific evidence that Omicron is more able to infect people with immunity to COVID-19 and that it was spreading more swiftly than any other variant studied.
Javid said Omicron could result in around 1 million infections across the country by the end of the month if transmission continued at the current rate. Scientific advisers said Britain could face more than 1,000-2,000 Omicron hospitalisations per day if no action was taken - numbers that would swiftly overwhelm the National Health Service and prevent other emergency treatments.
Some of Johnson’s lawmakers, though, are unhappy about the new measures which they fear will yet again damage the British economy in the busy pre-Christmas period.
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