Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)The major incident declared in London as Omicron surged across the capital has been stood down, Sadiq Khan has announced.
The Mayor of London declared a major incident on December 18 due to the rapid spread of the variant, a surge in hospitalisations and the impact of staff absences on frontline services.
Mr Khan is ending the major incident status but warned the city will remain on high alert.
The decision comes following the gradual improvement in the number of cases in the capital and a decline in staff absences, his office said.
Mr Khan said: “Our NHS and emergency services have gone above and beyond during an extremely testing period for our city.
“Everyone who wore a mask, took a lateral flow test or followed the advice to work from home where possible, has played their part in reducing the pressure they faced and enabled us to stand down the ‘major incident’ in London today.
“But the virus and the Omicron variant is still with us and daily infection rates are still too high.
“That’s why we must all remain vigilant and continue to do the things that have allowed our city to reopen safely.
“Wearing a face covering remains one of the single most important and easiest things we can all do to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and that’s why I’m renewing my calls for the Government to rethink their plans and keep legislation in place to make them mandatory on public transport.
“They still have a huge role to play in keeping our city open and our friends, family and communities protected.”
He added that Covid-19 continues to pose a “significant threat and our hospitals remain under pressure”.
“That’s why it’s crucial that Londoners test regularly and report their results, come forward for vaccinations, and continue to wear a face covering when travelling on TfL services, where it remains a condition of carriage,” he said.
A major incident is defined as being “beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security”.
In addition, “the severity of the consequences associated with a major incident are likely to constrain or complicate the ability of responders to resource and manage the incident”.
The powers to declare a major incident are part of the Civil Contingencies Act.
Previous examples include the 7 July terror attacks in 2005, the Croydon tram crash in 2016, and the Grenfell Tower fire and the terror attacks on Westminster bridge and London Bridge in 2017.
