Covid 19 - Winter is Coming! Prime Ministers Plan A & B

In an announcement yesterday from No.10, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, accompanied by Government Medical Advisors Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, informed the nation of the Government’s winter plan for tackling Covid-19 cases. Referred to as Plan A, Mr Johnson advised that the initial measures were to include:

• Continuing the work of NHS Test and Trace app and with free PCR tests;
• Encouraging free flu vaccine take-up; and
• encouraging people to use ventilation when meeting indoors and to wear face coverings in crowded settings.

In the announcement, Mr Johnson believed that getting people vaccinated against Covid-19 was the first line of defence against combating the virus and he made further pleas, for those who had not received the vaccination, to get “jabbed”.  

If the measures detailed under Plan A, proved to be insufficient to keep Covid-19 hospitalisation under control, then additional measures may need to be implemented, which Mr Johnson referred to as Plan B.

Plan B measures are to include:

• The return of face coverings in certain settings;
• Requesting working from home;
• Introducing vaccine passports.

It was warned that Plan B could be implemented as short notice (suggested to be one week’s notice) if the concerns in the data warranted this type of response.

The Government’s medical advisors were not clear on what the levels of concern would be, but that the important data to keep an eye on was the following:

• the number of hospitalisations;
• rapid rates of change in figures; and
• the overall state of the NHS.

The hospitality sector has welcomed parts of the Government’s plans to tackle Covid-19 during the winter, but have concerns that reserved measures, could have a significant impact of the industry.