City of London Shrugs Off Omicron as More Return to Office

(Bloomberg) --

More people are back in the City of London than at any time since the government imposed a lockdown in March last year as Covid-19 ripped through the country.

Even as the new omicron variant spreads, almost 80% of workers in the financial district were back at their desks on Tuesday and Thursday of last week, according to data compiled by Google, which tracks the locations of its users.

Christmas parties may have been encouraging more people to come to the area, with bars and restaurants thronged with revelers midweek -- but firms are starting to cancel gatherings, or scale back their party plans, in the face of the new variant.

Read more: Boris Johnson at Odds With Senior Medic on Tackling Omicron

The government, which has so far declined to tell workers they should avoid large gatherings, is due to review its pandemic rules in the next week or so. It's still awaiting guidance on the dangers posed by the latest variant.

London's biggest financial district emptied out in March of last year as Covid-19 spread. The high percentage of white collar jobs meant most of the Square Mile's 540,000 workers were required to work from home.

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