Downing Street has issued a promising update on when Plan B could be lifted.
As Boris Johnson considers whether England’s Plan B restrictions can be lifted on January 26, when they are due to expire, Downing Street says there are “encouraging signs” in the data.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the "maximum amount of time possible" would be given to prepare for any changes in the rules.
READ MORE: Wirral’s Covid-19 cases down by nearly 50% as rules to be ‘scrapped within days’
The spokesman said: "In terms of the data, there are some encouraging signs that infections are falling across the country.
"Obviously we want to see that mirrored in the latest ONS data as well.
"There are also some signs of falls – or at least plateauing – in admissions and occupancy in hospital, which is good to see. But it still remains the case that our NHS is under significant pressure, there are over 16,000 Covid patients in hospital in England alone.
"So we are keeping a very close eye on the data but we do believe the mitigations we have in place – particularly our booster programme – is offering massive protection to the public."
A leading expert advising the Government has said the continued drop in UK Covid cases indicates the Omicron wave may well be "turning around".
Prof Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), said the latest case figures are "cautiously good news" and he hopes the country may have a "flu-type" relationship with the virus by the end of the year.
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