So much for the mask crackdown

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Shoppers in England defied the Prime Minister’s facemask decree today after retail bosses warned that they won’t enforce the Covid restriction. 

Hundreds of officers from Transport for London and British Transport Police have been patrolling the Underground network after new curbs – including rules on self-isolation that risk triggering another ‘pingdemic’ – came into force at 4am yesterday.

But maskless customers at a Tesco store in south-east London risked a £200 fine and shrugged off the legal requirement to cover their faces despite mounting concerns about the so-called ‘Omicron’ variant. 

Facemasks are again compulsory on public transport, in shops and settings such as banks, post offices and hairdressers in England.

Those caught flouting the restrictions will be fined £200 for a first offence, which will double on each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £6,400.

Scenes of non-compliance yesterday sparked calls for tougher enforcement of the rules, as Unite’s national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton said ‘people are not going to wear masks now just because Boris Johnson says it’s the right thing to do’.

The Mayor of London also told people to wear facemasks on public transport, and called on the Prime Minister to keep the restriction in place possibly past December 21 – when the new rules will be reviewed – in case the new Covid variant is worse than feared. 

Retail leaders said businesses are refusing to enforce the rules because they fear that their staff will be accosted by customers. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, stressed yesterday that it is the role of the authorities to enforce these new regulations, adding that customers also have responsibility to adhere to the rules.

Sainsbury’s and Aldi UK told customers and staff in an email that they will need a face covering to enter stores, unless they are exempt. 

And Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland grocery chain, said he will not be asking staff to police the mask rules among customers. 

In the latest twist and turn of the coronavirus crisis: 

New rules on self-isolation will be enshrined in law until March, sparking fears the curbs could remain in place beyond December 21;The Health Secretary denied allegations that the Prime Minister and his Downing Street staff broke Covid rules by attending two parties last December; Labour urged the Government to introduce pre-departure testing for all people before they fly to the UK’;Sage adviser Professor Andrew Hayward said there was a need to keep an eye on Omicron growth as ‘small numbers can turn to big numbers quite quickly’;Boss of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said some NHS organisations had asked staff ‘not to mix in big groups’ in the run-up to Christmas; ONS data showed a total of 170,816 deaths have occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate;NHS waiting lists could double to 12 million by 2025 despite billions more in taxpayers’ cash being pumped into our hospital wards, a report has found;Coronavirus cases in South Africa have soared by 403 per cent in a week, after the country’s scientists sounded the alarm about the Omicron variant;Businesses warned Mr Johnson last night that the ‘chilling effect’ of Covid restrictions will cost the economy ‘billions’ in the run-up to Christmas.

Commuters this morning noted how more people are wearing facemasks, with one tweeting: ‘Practically full mask compliance on my commuter-time train and Tube this morning.’

Another added: ‘Pleased to report upwards of 95 per cent mask compliance on the Tube this morning and police asking people if they had a mask. Now if only people could figure out that the mask should also cover the nose.’

A third wrote on Twitter: ‘A little faith in humanity has been restored! Every single person in my Central Line Tube carriage is wearing a mask.’ 

And a fourth wrote: ‘Mask compliance finally back to quite acceptable levels on the Tube.’

Police refused to say whether any fines had been handed out, saying data is released quarterly by the National Police Chief’s Council on behalf of all forces in England and Wales. 

Facemasks are not needed in hospitality venues such as pubs, restaurants and hotels. Shops and bus firms have said they will not enforce the new rules, with a body representing retailers saying this was up to police.

Ministers hope the restrictions will ensure we can celebrate Christmas properly this year – amid mounting concerns over the Omicron variant which has threatened to throw the holiday season into chaos. 

Sadiq Khan revealed yesterday that before July 19 roughly 85 per cent of those using public transport wore a face mask, and TfL issued almost 2,000 fines before the rules changed on July 19. 

It come as the Health Secretary warned today that there are ‘no guarantees’ that there won’t be a lockdown this Christmas,

In an ominous shift in tone from recent days, Sajid Javid told Good Morning Britain another festive shutdown was ‘not the plan’, but said: ‘We can’t rule out any particular measure at this point in time because we always have to look at the data and do what we need to protect people.’

He also urged people to take Covid tests before going to Christmas parties and wear facemasks while partying amid mounting fears about the so-called ‘Omicron’ variant.  

During a Downing Street press conference yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people not to cancel Christmas parties or school nativity plays. He also promised to ‘throw everything’ at the booster vaccination campaign to tackle the virus’s spread. 

But his government has now been accused of ‘mixed messaging’ after UK Health Security Agency chief executive Dr Jenny Harries recommended people reduce the extent to which they socialise this winter – in a hint that restrictions could go further. 

Fears of an extension of curbs were raised last night after it emerged that new rules on self-isolation will be enshrined in law until the end of March next year – way beyond the promised December 21 review date. Conservative MPs warned of another ‘pingdemic’ devastating the economy and education system – concerns dismissed by the Health Secretary today.

Last night, the Commons overwhelmingly approved the Government’s new Covid regulations, with just a handful of Tories rebelling. Former minister Steve Baker said ‘we are taking away the public’s right to choose what they do based on flimsy and uncertain evidence’, while Sir Christopher Chope branded the restrictions ‘oppressive, authoritarian and dictatorial’. 

Asked if he would wear a mask if he was at a Christmas party, Mr Javid told Sky News’s Kay Burley: ‘It depends if I am walking around or sitting down. It depends if I’m eating. People just need to make a decision based on the guidance.’  

Hospitality leaders now fear another hammering to their industry this December. Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, told Radio 4’s Today programme that Saturday’s press conference had had a ‘chilling effect on consumer confidence’. She warned against ‘the threat of a stop-start to the economy again’ in the run up to Christmas. 

New curbs on global travel including the addition of 10 countries to the UK’s so-called ‘red list’, a return of testing rules, and quarantine hotels have also spooked travellers – and sparked a wave of cancellations of bookings at airport hotels.  

Questioned on whether he was anticipating another ‘pingdemic’, Mr Javid insisted: ‘At this point in time the case numbers are very low. That will certainly go up but the numbers are low. I hope it stays that way. I’m not worried about a ”pingdemic” type of situation.’

He later told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If you are invited to a Christmas party, there’s quite a few people there, maybe you want to take an LFT (lateral flow test) before you go. Go to the party, but just be cautious.’

Hospitality chiefs warned of a growing ‘sense of trepidation’ among customers that their Christmas plans might be disrupted for the second year running.

Ms Nicholls of UKHospitality told the Today programme: ‘I think you are seeing once again a return of uncertainty.

‘It’s quite clear the messaging over the weekend had a chilling effect on consumer confidence and we are starting to see a small number of cancellations. It’s a trickle at the moment, and we were very pleased that the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary yesterday did say that the measures they had put in place were sufficient and that people could feel confident about going ahead with Christmas bookings and Christmas parties, which is so essential for hospitality.

‘But we need that message to be reinforced more strongly to put an end to the uncertainty and the threat of a stop-start to the economy again in the run up to Christmas.

‘I think it’s driven largely by consumer confident. I think there’s also a sense of trepidation that their plans might be disrupted again, and so that irrespective of whether there are government controls imposed on the economy, that is having a cooling effect undoubtedly on hospitality.

‘We already saw that bookings were subdued this year compared to pre-pandemic levels. And this will clearly have a further adverse impact on our businesses.’

The Arora Group said travellers who stay at hotels at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports before catching early morning flights are axing their December bookings. They are even suspending corporate events at the four-star Fairmont in Windsor in January due to mounting uncertainty about the spread of the Covid variant, group chairman Surinder Arora said.

He told the Today programme: ‘It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Obviously we had the quarantine hotels at the beginning of this year, and then over the past few weeks as we’ve been trying to return to some kind of normality, most of the hotels have gone back to operating normal commercial hotels.

‘And then of course last week we were hit with this new virus, so sadly that’s all changed again and the Government’s obviously introduced 10 new countries on the red list which means they need a few hotels to go on the quarantine programme.

‘Over the last few weeks, when the quarantine finished we were thankful for getting back to some kind of normality. Since this latest news, instead of getting new bookings the guys are getting a lot of cancellations.

‘We obviously have a lot of transient, a lot of leisure business, with guests flying out of the country – Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted – normally tend to spend a night with us before they travel, especially early morning flights. And now a lot of those are being cancelled.

‘And not just the leisure business, were getting quite a few bookings cancelled for meetings and events. I know, for instance, some of the larger bookings – we just recently opened our new flagship at the Fairmont in Windsor, and they actually had big large corporates who had bookings in January who are saying ”actually, we may want to push it back to further, later in the year to get some more clarity on where we’re heading”.’

It comes as Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said some NHS organisations had asked staff ‘not to mix in big groups’ in the run-up to Christmas owing to fears off staff absences.

She told Sky News this year was ‘very different’ to last year when ‘it was absolutely clear that nobody was going to a Christmas party’.

She added: ‘This year, we are in in a slightly different place – people will be taking their own decisions.

‘We know that many NHS trusts, for example, are asking their staff not to mix in big groups in the run-up to Christmas because of the potential threat to their health and what they will be available to do.

‘So, they are setting one example there.

‘I think, at the moment, without that advice for Government, I think it’s for individuals and individual organisations to think about what they will be doing in the run-up to Christmas. But it’s a really challenging and difficult one.

‘The thing we can encourage everyone to do is to go out and get their booster when it’s made available to them and to book in for that because that’s one of the best defences that we’ve got alongside wearing masks, washing your hands and also making sure you’re in ventilated rooms.’

Leaked minutes of a Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies meeting held on Monday, seen by the BBC, show that scientists believe booster jabs are likely to provide protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and death from most variants in the short term.

But the notes say: ‘Any significant reduction in protection against infection could still result in a very large wave of infections.

‘This would, in turn, lead to a potentially high number of hospitalisations even with protection against severe disease being less affected.’  

It comes as easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said bookings had ‘softened’ since the Omicron strain emerged and the Government brought in costly travel rules that will require passengers to isolate until they have a negative PCR test result regardless of their vaccination status.

Mr Lundgren, writing in the Daily Mail, pointed out airline shares had dropped 13 per cent within hours of the announcement of the change. ‘Ministers must ensure their decisions are backed by data and precautions are kept in proportion to the threat,’ he said.

And Emirates airline president Tim Clark said a hit to the peak December travel season – when millions across the world travel to see friends and family – would cause ‘significant traumas’ for businesses.

Critics have claimed that Mr Johnson’s announcements are an over-reaction, given that only 22 omicron cases have so far been found in England. And early signs are that the variant is a mild form of the virus.

They say the moves are contributing to a renewed climate of fear, hitting consumer confidence – with the hospitality sector especially hit. 

Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: ‘This will cost the economy billions. It is a calamity. Christmas parties are off.’

Writing in the Mail, Patrick Dardis, head of Young’s pubs, claimed: ‘Within hours of the country being told that a new variant of Covid had been identified, the phones started ringing in the 300 pubs, restaurants and hotels in the Young’s chain.

‘And it wasn’t good news: the cancellation of Christmas parties, dinner bookings scrapped, weekend events in December delayed until who knows when, mini-breaks binned. This scenario is being repeated up and down the land.’

Damian Wawrzyniak, an award-winning chef who runs House of Feasts in Peterborough, told the BBC: ‘We had 20 cancellations over the weekend, mostly for Christmas parties. Hospitality has been waiting for Christmas and if it’s not what we were hoping for, there’s going to be some casualties.’