Boris Johnson will face scrutiny over his hope to “ride out” the wave of Omicron without further restrictions despite the NHS coming under significant strain from coronavirus, as last night during his Downing Street press conference, well, not a lot went on.
The prime minister will argue to his Cabinet on Wednesday they should stick by the Plan B measures in England as he accepted parts of the health service will feel “temporarily overwhelmed”.
He will also face Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions and then make a Commons statement where he will face possible challenges from Tory MPs critical of restrictions amid concerns of staffing shortages.
NHS trusts were declaring critical incidents and hospitals in Greater Manchester said they will pause some “non-urgent” surgery over the “rising impact” of Covid-19 and staffing shortages.
NHS North West regional medical director Dr David Levy told the BBC hospitals were under pressure across the entire region due to the volume of Covid patients and isolating staff, adding frontline workers were under “fairly intense pressure at the moment”.
Downing Street briefing
At last night’s briefing, he basically said nothing, as nothing is changing.
Here’s a clip from the non-event, which just seemed like an excuse to show off his new haircut.
Reactions
Needless to say, a lot of people were less than impressed.
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