Covid: What could a potential Plan C look like?
Officers from Suffolk Police enforcing Covid restrictions last winter - Credit: Sarah Lucy Brown
Omicron numbers are rising dramatically across the country with another 633 reported on Saturday, bringing the total confirmed number of cases to 1,898.
In addition, scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are claiming it could potentially cause tens of thousands of deaths over the winter if measures more stringent than the Prime Minister's "Plan B" are not brought in.
Experts predict that bringing in additional measures, including the closure of some entertainment venues, restrictions on indoor hospitality and limits on the number of people who can gather in one place could reduce hospital admissions by tens of thousands.
However, right now, there is no official Plan C and ideas floated as potential government plans appear to be much less restrictive.
Possible next steps they might take include requiring people to check in at hospitality venues, much like we were during spring, and isolate if they come into contact with an infectious individual.
Another option in discussion is requiring a Covid passport for pubs and restaurants, so you can only go in with a vaccination or a negative test.
Limits on numbers allowed to gather indoors - or "bubbles" - could be another option to try to reduce contact and curb the spread of the omicron variant.
Most Read
- 1 Forbidden Suffolk: 6 places you can't visit in the county
- 2 Suffolk town named one of the best places to go on holiday in the UK
- 3 Man stabbed in back and sides in Ipswich attack
- 4 Suffolk campsite named among the best in the UK by the Guardian
- 5 Ranking every League One away kit from worst to first
- 6 Striking new seafront café opens its doors to customers after two-year wait
- 7 'It riles me to the core' - Anger as sofas dumped near Suffolk beauty spot
- 8 Striker Jackson signs new Town deal
- 9 Teenager arrested after six people injured on university campus
- 10 'The children were buzzing' - Ed Sheeran sends video to Suffolk school
In addition, mask rules could be tightened up in churches, cinemas and theatres, while table service could potentially be re-enforced at hospitality venues.
Nonetheless, with Tory backbenchers already rebelling against Plan B, and Boris Johnson speaking about his personal discomfort around "papers for the pub", all this is still very far from confirmed.