The Prime Minister held an Omicron variant COVID briefing on 27 November 2021.
The speakers were:
- Boris Johnson, Prime Minister
- Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England
- Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser
The following summary was posted on the Worthing-wide COVID-19 Facebook group
Due to the new Omicron variant, new measures are being introduced:
- Face masks are once again mandatory and are a legal requirement in shops and on public transport from Tuesday in England
- PCR tests will be required for ALL overseas arrivals, by the end of the second day after arrival and the arrivals will have to self isolate until they receive a negative test result
- All contacts of Omicron cases will have to self isolate for 10 days, whether they are vaccinated or not, these contacts will be swiftly contacted by NHS England
- There is new “Red List” from 4.00 this morning, meaning arrivals from these countries will have to quarantine in an approved hotel for 10 days. The list is: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia
Targeted testing will be occurring in the areas of England where 2 Omicron cases have been found.
In 3 weeks these rules will be reviewed.
There will be further information about Boosters, and the current Vaccine programme coming soon.
The new variant appears to be more transmissible, but the impact of this new variant on current vaccine effectiveness will not be known just yet.
Source: Worthing-wide COVID-19 Facebook group
If you are not a member of the Worthing-side COVID-19 Facebook group, you will be unable to see the post. However, you can join the group and follow the conversation.
Watch the Omicron variant COVID Briefing on YouTube
Prime Minister’s Omicron variant COVID briefing on 27 November with BSL interpretation – YouTube
Further reading
Transcript on the government’s website of the Prime Minister’s opening statement*
Slides on the government’s website that accompanied the press conference
*As is usual in the government’s YouTube COVID briefing transcripts, only the Prime Minister’s opening statements are covered. The transcripts do not show questions from journalists or members of the public. The transcripts also do not show anything said by other speakers or answers given by others speakers present.