Booster Scheme May Be Widened Today To Tackle Omicron Spread

Rules tighten further amid fears variant has been in UK for 10 days

- Peter Walker and Linda Geddes

The Covid booster vaccination scheme could be significantly expanded as early as today as ministers try to combat the seemingly inevitable spread of the Omicron variant, with older pupils being told to wear masks in communal areas.

The government’s vaccines watchdog, the JCVI, which held an emergency meeting over the weekend, could advise the use of boosters for younger people, as well as a cut in the six-month wait between second and booster doses, it is understood.

Ministers said yesterday that they hoped restrictions imposed following the detection of the variant, which scientists fear could be highly transmissible and potentially evade some vaccine protections, would be limited and temporary, with the health secretary, Sajid Javid, promising “a great Christmas” next month.

But health officials said yesterday that a third case of the variant had been confirmed in the UK, in someone linked to southern Africa who had stayed in Westminster but left the UK before the test result emerged. Officials say they were in the central London borough, rather than being specifically linked to parliament.

However, it was also revealed that investigators looking into one of the two cases announced on Saturday were searching for potential contacts in Brentwood, Essex, for as far back as 10 days ago, raising questions over how long the new variant has been in the UK.

Following the announcement of tough travel restrictions on 10 African nations and the reintroduction of mandatory mask use in England in shops and on public transport from tomorrow, the Department for Education has contacted English schools to say secondary-age students and teachers should again wear face coverings in communal areas.