Johnson Waits for Clarity on Omicron Before Review of U.K. Rules

(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson said his U.K. government is still waiting for guidance on the omicron variant of Covid-19 ahead of a review of pandemic rules in mid-December, but ministers don't yet see a need to change course.

“We're still waiting to see exactly how dangerous it is; what sort of effect it has in terms of deaths and hospitalizations” the British prime minister told reporters in Liverpool, northern England on Monday.

Politically wary of imposing further rules on a restive public, the government has said that while people should employ common sense in the run-up to seasonal celebrations, parties should not be canceled altogether. 

But Johnson is under fire over allegations of a party at his office in December 2020, at a time when such gatherings were strictly banned. Opposition Labour Party MPs have referred the matter to the Metropolitan Police, while the prime minister has repeatedly said no rules were broken.

Meanwhile the scientist behind the U.K.'s joint Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine will warn that the U.K. should remain cautious until officials know the effects of the new omicron variant because it is so easy to pass on. 

“The spike protein of this variant contains mutations already known to increase transmisability of the virus but there are additional changes that may mean antibodies induced by the vaccines, or by infection with other variants, may be less effective at preventing infection with Omicron,” Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, will warn in a lecture Monday. 

‘Cautious'

“Until we know more, we should be cautious, and take steps to slow down the spread of this new variant,” she will say, according to the BBC. “But as we have seen before, reduced protection against infection and mild disease does not necessarily mean reduced protection against severe disease and death.”

On Saturday, officials announced all travelers arriving in England will be required to take a Covid-19 pre-departure test from Tuesday in an effort to curb the spread of omicron, which has infected about 250 people in the U.K. since it was first detected in the country on Nov. 27. The government also banned travel from Southern Africa and increased the number of countries on its red list that require a 10-day quarantine.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, who is a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modeling which advises the U.K. government, told the BBC on Sunday that the measures would not make a “material difference” because the variant is already “spreading pretty rapidly.”

“If omicron is here in the U.K., and it certainly is, if there's community transmission in the U.K., and it certainly looks that way, then it's that community transmission that will drive a next wave,” he told the Andrew Marr program.

Gilbert will also call for governments to continue funding pandemic preparedness, saying there will be viruses in the future that could pose an even bigger threat than Covid. 

“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,” she will say. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.”

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