Covid-19 Update

Statement

My Lords, I shall now repeat a Statement made in another place. The Statement is as follows:

“Mr Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a Statement on the omicron variant and the steps we are taking to keep our country safe. We have always known that a worrying new variant could be a threat to the progress that we have made as a nation. We are entering the winter in a strong position, thanks to the decisions we made in the summer and the defences we have built. Our vaccination programme has been moving at a blistering pace and this weekend we reached the milestone of 17 million boosters across the UK. This means that even though cases have been rising, hospital admissions have fallen a further 11% in the past week and deaths have fallen by another 17%. But, just as the vaccination programme has shifted the odds in our favour, a harmful new variant has always had the opportunity to shift them back.

Last week, I was alerted to what is now known as the omicron variant, now designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization. We are learning more about this new variant all the time, but the latest indication is that it spreads very rapidly. It may impact the effectiveness of one of our major treatments for Covid-19, Ronapreve, and, as the Chief Medical Officer said this weekend, there is a reasonable chance that our current vaccines may be impacted. I can update the House that there have now been five confirmed cases in England, and also six confirmed cases in Scotland, and we expect cases to rise over the coming days.

The new variant has also been spreading across the world. Confirmed cases have been reported in many more countries, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal. In this race between the vaccines and the virus, the new variant may have given the virus extra legs. So, our strategy is to buy ourselves time and strengthen our defences while our world-leading scientists learn more about its potential threat.

On Friday, I updated the House about the measures that we have put in place, including how, within hours, we had placed six countries in southern Africa on the red list. Today, I would like to update the House on the more balanced and proportionate steps that we are taking. First, measures at the border to slow the incursion of the variant from abroad. On Saturday, in line with updated advice from the UK Health Security Agency, we acted quickly to add another four countries to the travel red list: Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. This means that anyone who is not a UK or Irish national or resident who has been in any of these countries for the previous 10 days will be refused entry; and those who are must isolate in a Government-approved facility for 10 days.

Beyond this red list, we are also going further to put in place a proportionate testing regime for arrivals from all across the world. So we will require anyone who enters the UK to take a PCR test by the end of the second day after they arrive and to self-isolate until they have received a negative result. The regulations for this have been laid before the House today and will come into force at 4 am tomorrow.

Secondly, we have announced measures to slow the spread of the virus here in the UK. We are making changes to our rules on self-isolation for close contacts in England to reflect the greater threat that may be posed by this new variant. So close contacts of anyone who tests positive with a suspected case of omicron must self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated. Face coverings will also be made compulsory in shops and on public transport in England, unless an individual has a medical exemption.

The regulations for self-isolation and face coverings have been laid before the House today and will come into force at 4 am tomorrow. I can confirm to the House that there will be debates and votes on these two measures to give the House the opportunity to have its say and perform valuable scrutiny. My right honourable friend the Leader of the House will set out more details shortly and we will review all the measures that I have set out today after three weeks to see whether they are still necessary.

Thirdly, we are strengthening the defences that we have built against this virus. We are already in a stronger position than we were when we faced the delta variant. We have a much greater capacity for testing, enhanced ability for sequencing and the collective protection offered by 114 million jabs in arms.

I will update the House on our Covid-19 vaccination programme, which has been a national success story. We have delivered more booster doses than anywhere in Europe, and we have given top-up jabs to over one in three people over the age of 18 across the UK. I pay tribute to the NHS, the volunteers, the Armed Forces and everyone else who has been involved in this life-saving work. Our vaccines remain our best line of defence against this virus, in whatever form it takes. There is a lot that we do not know about how our vaccines respond to the omicron variant, but although it is possible that they may be less effective, it is unlikely that they will have no effectiveness. So it is really important that we get as many jabs in arms as possible.

We were already planning to do 6 million booster jabs in England alone over the next few weeks, but, against the backdrop of this new variant, we want to go further and faster. So I asked the JCVI—the Government’s independent expert advisers on vaccinations—to urgently review how we can expand the programme and whether we should reduce the gap between second doses and boosters. The JCVI published its advice in the last hour. First, it advised that the minimum dose interval for booster jabs should be halved, from six to three months. Secondly, it advised that the booster programme should be expanded to include all remaining adults aged 18 and above. Thirdly, it advised that these boosters should be offered by age group in descending order to protect those who are most vulnerable to the virus. Priority will be given to older adults and people over 16 who are at risk. Fourthly, it advised that severely immunosuppressed people aged 16 or above who have received three primary doses should now also be offered a booster dose. Finally, it advised that children aged between 12 and 15 should be given a second dose, 12 weeks from the first dose. I have accepted this advice in full. With this new variant on the offensive, these measures will protect more people more quickly and make us better protected as a nation. This represents a huge step for our vaccination programme.

I will update the House on the part that the UK is playing. We currently hold the presidency of the G7, and, earlier today, I convened an urgent meeting of the G7 Health Ministers to co-ordinate the international response. We were unanimous in our praise for the leadership shown by South Africa, which was so open and transparent about this new variant, and we were resolute in our commitment to working closely with each other, the World Health Organization and the wider international community to tackle this common threat.

Our experience of fighting this virus has shown us that it is best to act decisively and swiftly when we see a potential threat, which is why we are building our defences and putting these measures in place without delay. Scientists are working at speed, at home and abroad, to determine whether this variant is more dangerous. I assure the House that, if it emerges that this variant is no more dangerous than the delta variant, we will not keep measures in place for a day longer than is necessary.

Covid-19 is not going away, so we will keep seeing new variants emerge. If we want to live with the virus for the long term, we must follow the evidence and act in a proportionate and responsible way if a variant has the potential to thwart our progress. As we do this, we are taking a well-rounded view, looking at the impact of these measures not just on the virus but on the economy, education and non-Covid health, such as mental health. I am confident that these balanced and responsible steps are proportionate to the threat that we face.

This year, our nation has come so far down our road to recovery, but we always knew that there would be bumps in the road. But this is not a time to waver; it is a time to be vigilant and think about what each and every one of us can do to slow the spread of the new variant: getting a jab when the time comes, following the rules that we have put in place and getting rapid, regular tests. If we all come together once again, we can keep this virus at bay and protect the progress that we have made. I commend this Statement to the House.”

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement from today and for the Statement from Friday. I add my thanks to the scientists in South Africa for their prompt sharing of this information, as unwelcome as it may be.

We understand that scientists believe that it will take two to three weeks before they can establish whether the omicron Covid variant is more transmissible, causes more severe disease or can make vaccines less effective than was the case with delta, or all three. We support the Government’s strategy of tougher travel restrictions and mandatory face masks, as far as it goes. It seems that there is already real-world evidence from South Africa and Hong Kong that omicron is highly infectious, which begs the first question: why are the Government limiting the mandating of mask wearing to travel and to shops, and not extending it to indoor meetings and social events? Mask wearing is the single most effective public health measure in tackling Covid according to the first global study of its kind, which found that the measure was linked to a 53% fall in the incidence of the disease. As Dr David Nabarro said recently:

“We know that wearing a face mask reduces the risk. We know that maintaining physical distance reduces the risk. We know that hygiene by regular hand washing and coughing into your elbow reduces the risk. We should do it all, and we should not rely on any one intervention like vaccination on its own.”

On these Benches, we support taking swift action and the inclusion of new countries on the red list. We do not want a repeat of the inertia that saw the delta variant run rampant through the country and, as the Minister said, we must protect the progress that we have made. We welcome an increase in the availability of the booster jabs. The only question that I would ask him is about the capacity of the NHS to deliver the massive increase that the Government have reported today.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating today’s Statement. The World Health Organization and many globally respected scientists and doctors have been warning us that variants of Covid-19 might pose a serious risk, especially when a Government think that we are winning the war against the virus and that we can all afford to relax. Omicron reminds us that the battle is not won until it is won across the world. From these Benches, we also thank the South African scientists for their genome sequencing that has alerted the world, and I hope that the UK and the other G7 countries will offer them not just gratitude but countries in southern Africa more practical support.

I echo the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, about arrangements for international travel and test and trace. I also support her request for a briefing for Peers. For some bizarre reason, the Liberal Democrat MPs were not included in the MPs’ briefing. Please could the Minister make sure that we are included in any such meeting in the Lords.

In April, before the Minister was appointed, we warned Ministers that the Government were responding far too late to the reports of the delta variant in India. So we warn again. While the face mask mandate in shops and on public transport is welcome and well overdue, we are absolutely bemused that it excludes hospitality and that the advice to schools excludes classrooms. Professor Chris Whitty said in Saturday’s No. 10 press conference that when there is a risk we should go in hard, so can the Minister explain how the virus will be kept at bay in those indoor settings where masks are not required? Why is there no encouragement for people to work from home where possible? Trains and buses are crowded and unventilated. Risks will remain there too, even if lessened with masks.

I have said before that I am in the clinically extremely vulnerable group. I have had my third dose of the vaccine and now look forward to my fourth, or booster, dose. But many of those who should be getting the third dose still face a series of problems in the NHS about who should get it, as opposed to a booster, and how it is recorded. Indeed, today, in response to a Written Question to my honourable friend Daisy Cooper about the recording of a third dose, the Minister, Maggie Throup MP, replied:

I thank both noble Baronesses for their questions. I will try to answer as many as I can.

On the first issue of face coverings and why not all places, we are taking temporary, targeted and proportionate action as a precaution while we learn more about this new variant. Face coverings have been introduced as part of the temporary measures being put in place to slow the spread of the omicron variant. We know that face coverings are effective at reducing transmission indoors when people are likely to come together—for example, on public transport or in shops—while having a low impact on our daily lives. We continue to encourage everyone to wear face coverings in settings that are crowded or where they meet or come into contact with people they do not normally meet, but we are also guided by the advice of our scientific and medical experts. We are constantly keeping these under review.

One of the reasons why our advice is not the same for hospitality venues is that the advice has been that it is not seen as practical for people to wear a face covering when eating or drinking. It is not recommended that face coverings are worn when undertaking strenuous activity, including exercising and dancing. That is the advice we have had to date on that one.

Questions were asked about NHS capacity. The NHS can respond to local surges in demand in several ways, including through expanding surge capacity in existing NHS hospitals, mutual aid between hospitals, and making use of independent sector capacity and accelerated discharge schemes. The NHS is the Government’s key spending priority. That is why we committed to the historic settlement of the cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24, and other investments we have made to make sure we have that capacity.

The booster vaccine will be offered in order of descending age groups, with priority given to older adults. This will probably be the most complex phase of the NHS vaccination programme so far, but the NHS is working through updated guidance and will set out how this will be operationalised shortly. It will contact you when you need to act and book in for your life-saving vaccination.

My Lords, it is very difficult to find out why many people are hesitant about having a booster jab having had two vaccinations. Does the Minister think that, if something went wrong and left a person seriously disabled from the vaccine, but if they knew they would have adequate compensation, they might be more willing to have the booster?

I thank the noble Baroness for raising that important point. We have made the point that it is not over, but one thing that we have seen, sadly, with the uptake of the booster vaccine is that a number of people felt that because they had had the first and second doses, they could almost return to normal. Maybe we could have been stronger with the message that it is not over, but we continue to say that we should be ever vigilant. The important point is that, if you have not had the booster, we ask you to come forward, just as we ask all those who have not had their first or second vaccine to come forward. We are trying to work with all those in different communities to make sure that they come forward. We are, for example, working with interfaith communities and local groups.

My Lords, I welcome the Statement, but may I express the hope that the requirement to wear masks in shops and on public transport is not relaxed prematurely? Is there not a case for continuing those requirements while the pandemic is prevalent?

My noble friend will be aware of the constant debate that there has been in the public sphere about the effectiveness of masks, when they are effective and who is affected. Therefore, we have always followed scientific advice on the wearing of masks and where would be most appropriate. We know that many noble Lords and others have called on us literally not to let the masks slip, as it were, and to make sure that people continue to wear masks. There have been others, however, asking why people still need to wear masks. We have always been vigilant, and the fact that we now have this new variant means we are taking a precautionary approach. We will continue to review it and it could well be that, in three weeks’ time, we will see how dangerous it has been and how effective mask wearing has been in the places that we have specified.

My Lords, it is now recognised widely that none of us is safe until we are all safe, leading to the conclusion that we need a worldwide vaccination programme. However, there is mounting evidence that populations that are immunocompromised, especially people living with HIV, provide a particularly ideal environment for the mutation of the virus. Does the Minister accept that we must therefore contemplate the possibility of having a global programme of antiretroviral medicine as part of our response to Covid?

I thank the noble Lord for the point he just made. If he will allow me, I will take that back and try to get an answer for him.

My Lords, I hear from colleagues in South Africa that nasal swabs alone are not as effective at picking up the new variant and that there have been many false negatives reported. I would welcome the Minister’s comment on that, as we are moving to more nasal swabs. I also suggest that it would be more sensible to encourage the use of face coverings in offices and to encourage people to work from home wherever it is feasible in terms of employers, so that the next two weeks can be used by scientists to really identify other problems that might be associated. This would help to safeguard NHS clinical staff as well as hospitals. If people are getting false negatives and then being admitted to hospital, it puts the very staff we need to keep at work at risk.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Watkins, will be aware, our scientific medical advice and the data are constantly reviewed. We are currently conducting thorough tests to review both LFT and PCR efficacy when it comes to the omicron variant. The advice that I have been given is that we must wait for the data and take a cautious, proportionate approach as scientists work urgently to better understand the variant. In terms of the question on more restrictions in terms of where face masks should be worn, the advice at the moment is still on public transport and in shops, and to continue to encourage people to work either from home or in offices, as appropriate.

My Lords, in my noble friend’s repeat of the Statement, he said that

“our strategy is to buy ourselves time and strengthen our defences”.

May I ask him about our border controls? Given our testing capacity, would it not make sense for us, for example, to test everybody who comes into our airports at the airport itself so that we have certainty that, where they are positive, we know who they are and are able to conduct the contact tracing required?

I thank my noble friend for giving me notice of the question; I appreciate it. The answer that I have been given in response is that we have built a thriving private diagnostic market to meet the demand of the international travellers and day 2 PCR testing for travellers is provided by these private providers. Based on forecast modelling, we are confident that the market has sufficient capacity to meet the rise in demand that omicron may pose.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Statement, in which he indicated that he was chairing a meeting of G7 members to deal with this specific issue. Will that meeting deal with the rollout of excess vaccines to the rest of the world, particularly those countries in southern Africa? I can only think of what my right honourable friend the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the weekend, which was also reaffirmed in the leader column in yesterday’s Sunday Times: that nobody is safe in this world until everybody is safe. So is there a strategic plan to deal with excess vaccines to ensure that they are all used up, and particularly that they are used in those countries in the developing world that need them most?