Care home visits restricted to just three per resident amid Omicron fears

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Care home residents will be banned from seeing more than three named visitors in an attempt to protect them from the Omicron variant.

Last night’s move was the first additional restriction – dubbed Plan C – introduced since Plan B measures to tackle rising Covid-19 cases were announced this week.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove hinted last night that further curbs could be brought in if infections continue to increase.

He said: ‘We recognise the importance of balancing people’s ability to get on with their lives with the need to protect them against this virus.

‘But action is absolutely required and as new data comes in we will consider what action we do require to take in the face of that data.’

New guidelines mean care home residents who are unvaccinated will also be forced to isolate for two weeks on their return if they go on a trip out. 

Even residents who are fully jabbed will have to take a lateral flow test on alternate days for a fortnight if they leave homes.

Current guidelines do not place any restrictions on family and friends visiting their loved ones in care homes. According to official guidance, the homes are expected ‘to facilitate visits wherever possible and to do so in a risk-managed way’.

But the Government announced last night the number of visitors will be limited to three per resident, plus an essential caregiver. It is understood this will come into force from Wednesday.

Campaigners criticised the move for forcing relatives to make the ‘devastating’ choice of which family members can see loved ones for what may be their last Christmas.

The first part of the Government’s Plan B package came into force yesterday with the introduction of compulsory face masks in indoor settings such as theatres, cinemas and churches.

New working from home guidance will come into force on Monday and MPs will vote the following day on the introduction of controversial vaccine passports for nightclubs and large venues. 

Other potential Plan C measures being considered include forcing pub and restaurant goers to ‘check in’ with the NHS Covid app, extending the use of face masks and widening the range of venues required to use vaccine passports.

The campaign group Rights for Residents described the new cap on care home visitors as ‘hugely disappointing’ and said families will have to make ‘heartbreaking choices’. 

A spokesman added: ‘The impact it will have on families will be devastating. It is absolutely heartbreaking for families to have to choose who can visit them. How do you pick those three people?’

Age UK called on ministers to consider alternatives, such as increased use of PPE, saying the way care home residents had previously been cut off from loved ones was ‘one of the greatest tragedies of the pandemic’.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it will allow visits to continue because of ‘the importance of companionship for the health and wellbeing of residents’.

But it added it was limiting the number of visitors ‘in order to balance the current Covid-19 risk and the need to keep people safe in line with clinical advice’.

Testing of care home staff will be increased from two lateral flow tests a week to three, as well as a weekly PCR test.

All care home residents were entitled to their booster vaccinations by November 1 but so far only 75 per cent have had one, according to NHS England.

Specialist vaccination teams will now be expanded to ensure boosters are offered to all care home residents and staff, as well as people who are housebound and their caregivers, as soon as possible.

Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: ‘One of the greatest tragedies of the pandemic has been the way in which many older people living in care homes have been cut off from loved ones for long periods.

‘Concern about the Omicron variant is increasing and must be factored in but it’s important that ministers and care providers do not rush to reduce visiting in care homes before there is clear evidence that there really is no other choice.

‘Before we consider constraining face-to-face visiting we must make full use of all the other measures available to keep everyone safe, including testing and PPE.’

James White, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘It’s deeply concerning to hear that limits on care home visits will return.

‘More than 70 per cent of care home residents are living with dementia and we know restricting their contact with loved ones can lead to significant and irreversible deterioration in their symptoms.’

Care minister Gillian Keegan said: ‘Our priority throughout the pandemic has been the safety of those who are the most vulnerable. 

‘However, we need to balance this with the tremendous benefits that visiting provides.

‘These changes are in line with the latest clinical advice and are designed to support our social care staff in the months ahead.’

Omicron ‘tsunami’ is about to hit UK: Super-mutant cases jump 54% in a day and EVERY Covid case in Scotland is predicted to be variant within 10 days – as overall infections start to spike north of border and rise by 15% across UK to highest since January

Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor, Connor Boyd, Deputy Health Editor and Joe Davies for MailOnline 

Fears Britain will be stung by even tougher restrictions before Christmas because of Omicron grew today as the number of cases of the super-mutant jumped by 54 per cent in a day and overall daily Covid infections breached levels not seen since the UK’s devastating second wave.

Nicola Sturgeon today warned of an impending ‘tsunami’ triggered by the highly-transmissible variant, based on grisly data suggesting Omicron could become completely dominant in Scotland within days. Cases north of the border have doubled in a week.

In the face of the ever-worsening threat, she announced entire families in Scotland will have to self-isolate for 10 days if one member of the household tests positive for coronavirus to help tackle the strain and keep a lid on the impending crisis.

Meanwhile, UK-wide statistics showed cases have risen by 15 per cent in a week to 58,194 — making it the highest daily toll since the darkest depths of January, when Britain was being battered by the Alpha variant but had yet to dish out any vaccines.

Hospitalisations crept up by six per cent on last week but deaths fell by around 16 per cent over the same time-frame. Both measures are just a fraction of the level seen during previous waves because of the success of jabs but will rise over the coming weeks because of a delay between getting infected and becoming seriously ill.

Health chiefs today recorded another 448 cases of Omicron, taking the official toll to 1,265. The true toll will be much higher because not every sample is rigorously analysed in a lab. 

Separate estimates suggest the real toll could be more than 4,000 cases per day based on evidence showing the strain is already making up nearly 13 per cent of new infections. 

It came as reports emerged that the UK Government is already working on a ‘Plan C’ of Covid restrictions, just days after Boris Johnson triggered his ‘Plan B’.  

But No10 insists it has ‘no plans’ for a Plan C or a circuit breaker lockdown over Christmas. The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: ‘We think the Plan B measures are the right approach and strike the right balance.’ 

And promising Government data released tonight revealed booster Covid jabs offer up to 75 per cent protection against mild illness caused by the variant.

The latest coronavirus developments came as:

Ministers insisted they are ‘trying to get the balance right between not shutting the economy down’ and protecting against coronavirus by rolling out ‘Plan B’ restrictions. Scotland recorded 19 coronavirus-linked deaths and 5,018 cases recorded in the past 24 hours. Cases of the new Covid-19 variant could reach just shy of 25,000 a day before the end of the month, a Scottish Government evidence paper said.  Sir Keir Starmer said Labour will support the rollout of ‘Plan B’ in a House of Commons vote next week because ‘in this pandemic we have always put the public interest and public health first and that’s what we’ll do next week in supporting these measures’. Downing Street said it was up to individual businesses to decide whether Christmas parties should go ahead as Number 10 cancelled its own gathering.

Omicron currently makes up 13.3 per cent of Covid cases already in Scotland, which has become a hotspot for the super-strain along with London, but it’s doubling every two days. Scotland today reported 5,018 positive Covid tests, which is the highest number in three months and double the number a week ago. 

Nicola Sturgeon announced entire families in Scotland will have to self-isolate for 10 days if one member of the household tests positive for coronavirus to help tackle the strain as she warned it posed a ‘severe challenge’.

The Scottish First Minister said that as of tomorrow ‘all household contacts of any confirmed Covid case should isolate for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status and even if they initially get a negative PCR test’. 

Ms Sturgeon said she knew this would not be ‘easy’ and that there will be ‘careful exemptions for critical services’. However, she insisted the move is ‘essential at this moment’ because of the rapid spread of the new variant.

The SNP leader said non-household contacts of a positive case should continue to self-isolate, pending a PCR test and if that test is negative they can leave isolation as long as they are double-jabbed.   

Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon also urged people in Scotland to defer work Christmas parties as she said limiting ‘unnecessary contacts’ is the ‘sensible’ thing to do to slow transmission of the disease.

Ms Sturgeon told a coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh at lunchtime that as of yesterday at 5pm there were 110 confirmed Omicron cases in Scotland and 10 days ago the number was just nine. 

She warned the latest figure is likely to be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and the data suggests the current spread of Omicron represents the ‘fastest exponential growth that we have seen in this pandemic so far’. 

Ms Sturgeon said the number of Omicron cases is doubling every two to three days and the variant could overtake Delta as the dominant strain ‘within days’.

She said the R number in Scotland – the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person – had been ‘hovering’ around one in recent weeks but the R number for Omicron is ‘likely to be well over two and possibly closer to three’ which could result in a ‘rapid rise’ in cases in the days ahead. 

‘The fact is we do face a renewed and very severe challenge in the face of of the new Omicron variant, ‘ she said. 

‘To be blunt, because of the much greater and faster transmissibility of this new variant, we may be facing – indeed we may be starting to experience – a potential tsunami of infections.’ 

She added: ‘Indeed, I think we can now say with some confidence that we expect it to overtake Delta within days, not weeks – we estimate this could be as early as the very beginning of next week.’

The highly-evolved variant is now behind 8.5 per cent of the UK’s coronavirus cases compared to just four per cent at the start of the week, according to an analysis of UK Health Security Agency data.

Scotland — where it’s feared Omicron was seeded during the Cop26 climate change summit in early November — and London are being hit hardest by Omicron but the strain has been detected in every country in the UK and nearly every region.

The UK Government is already considering a tougher ‘Plan C’ to tackle Omicron which could see care homes slapped with fresh restrictions in the run up to Christmas and masks made compulsory in pubs and restaurants.

Controversial vaccine passports could also be extended to more venues as part of the contingency measures being floated within Downing Street if the Omicron super variant proves to be as dangerous as scientists fear. 

A UK Government source said it was ‘very likely’ care home residents could be banned from seeing more than three visitors over the festive period to prevent another explosive outbreak in the sector.

But campaign groups warned the plans could be ‘devastating’ and ‘heartbreaking’, with many families forced to pick loved ones on what could be their last Christmas. 

Other curbs in a ‘Plan C’ could include having to ‘check in’ with the NHS Covid app again to go to a pub or restaurant, using face masks in all indoor spaces, and having to show a vaccine passport at even more venues.

The first part of the Government’s Plan B came into force today with the introduction of compulsory face masks in indoor settings such as theatres, cinemas and churches. New work-from-home guidance will come into effect on Monday, and MPs will vote on Tuesday on the introduction of vaccine passports for nightclubs and large venues.

Labour has said it will support the rollout of Plan B, despite a suggestion that many opposition MPs could vote down the measures in protest against ongoing accusations that Number 10 held a number of lockdown-breaking parties last winter.

But backbench Tory MPs have told MailOnline that the Government could face its biggest mutiny yet, with at least 60 Conservative MPs expected to defy the government whip and vote down the plans. 

Ms Sturgeon announced two new interventions at lunchtime in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant: Tougher isolation rules and strengthened guidance to defer Christmas parties. 

‘Given that Omicron is now becoming dominant, our response to it has to become more general because it will quickly be the case that most people who have Covid have the Omicron variant and we must do all we can in that context to break the transmission chains,’ she said. 

‘Therefore from tomorrow our advice will be that all household contacts of any confirmed Covid case should isolate for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status and even if they initially get a negative PCR test.

‘I know that this is not easy and we will obviously keep it under review. We will also ensure careful exemptions for critical services.

‘But we believe this to be essential at this moment to help slow transmission. Non-household contacts should continue to isolate pending a PCR result. If that is negative they can leave isolation at that point as long as they are double vaccinated.’

Public Health Scotland yesterday published new advice on work Christmas parties and Ms Sturgeon urged Scots to follow it. 

‘This is not easy advice to give or to hear but it is incumbent on public health experts to set out very clearly and frankly the risks we face and it is incumbent on me and government to pay attention to that advice,’ she said. 

‘There is a significant risk with Omicron and we are already seeing the reality of it, of Christmas parties or events with lots of people becoming super-spreaders.

‘If that happens, lots of people get infected and if these are work events as well as the risk to individual health there is a risk to the ability of the workplace to operate as people have to isolate.’

She added: ‘The public health advice, which I have no alternative but to agree with given the evidence of risk that I know about and have now shared with you, is that we should all think a bit more carefully about unnecessary contacts, especially in crowded places just now and that it would be sensible to defer work Christmas parties.’

Ms Sturgeon said that while evidence suggests Omicron can evade some immunity given by vaccines, people should still get jabbed. 

‘Based on preliminary laboratory trials, the best evidence suggests it can evade to some extent the immunity conferred by vaccination,’ she said. 

‘Now, and I want to triple underline this point, that does not mean that the vaccines will not significantly help us – being less effective is not the same, nowhere near the same, as vaccines being ineffective and booster doses in particular will help retain a higher level of vaccine efficiency.’

Ms Sturgeon said the greater transmissibility of the new variant represents a threat to the NHS even if the strain is found to be less severe than its predecessors. 

She said that ‘a smaller percentage of a bigger number will still result in a massive number of cases who might need hospital care’.

She added: ‘Given the volume of people who could be infected by Omicron because of its greater transmissibility, even if most of those cases are mild, the number of cases of serious illness will put massive strain on the ability of the NHS to cope.’ 

Ms Sturgeon also said she cannot rule out further restrictions being put in place in Scotland as a result of the Omicron variant. 

Ministers are hoping the Government’s ‘Plan B’ will be enough to slow the spread of Omicron in England while more booster jabs are administered. 

But as shops, pubs and restaurants warn of the millions they face losing at their busiest time of year under the new measures, officials are already working on another back-up strategy. 

The looming threat of tighter restrictions in the run-up to Christmas, which has echoes of this time last year, come amid fury at Mr Johnson’s decision to impose ‘Plan B’ measures yesterday, on the same day that he tried to grapple with the fallout of the Downing Street Christmas party scandal.

He is set to face a ‘war’ with his backbenchers when the measures are voted on next week. They reacted furiously to the planned introduction of vaccine passports next week – and took aim at the ‘conflicting’ guidance on working from home and socialising, with no official advice to cancel festive parties. 

A source told The Telegraph that it is ‘highly likely’ care homes will once again be hit by restrictions, with ministers looking at limiting the number of visitors to three.

The move would reportedly come in time for Christmas to limit the amount of mixing in homes during the festive period.

But the plans have been slammed by campaign groups, who say they will force families to make ‘devastating’ decisions about who gets to see loved ones on possibly their last Christmas.

Rights for Residents told the newspaper: ‘It just takes us back to where we were many months ago, and the impact it will have on families will be devastating.

‘It’s absolutely heartbreaking for families to have to choose who can visit them. How do you pick those three people?’

Mr Johnson is facing a Tory rebellion next week when the ‘Plan B’ rules will be voted on in the House of Commons. 

At least 50 Tories have publicly expressed concerns, and a senior Conservative said Mr Johnson needed to ‘get a grip’.   

Ringleaders have told MailOnline that it will be the biggest mutiny faced by the PM yet, with at least 60 expected to defy the government whip.    

Backbencher Marcus Fysh said on Thursday that the latest curbs are an ‘utter disgrace’, while former chief whip Mark Harper has questioned whether the government has the moral authority to impose the limits given the row over rules being flouted in Downing Street. 

There was a further setback when the NHS Covid pass website crashed for several hours last night.   

In signs of Cabinet tensions, Sajid Javid yesterday dismissed a hint from the PM that mandatory vaccination might be looked at in future, saying that would be ‘ethically wrong’.

And the Health Secretary revealed that he refused to continue with a scheduled round of broadcast interviews on Wednesday because he was ‘upset’ by the bombshell video of No10 aides giggling about an alleged lockdown-busting festive gathering last year. 

The scale of the damage to the Tories from the partying revelations, which followed the Westminster sleaze row, has been underlined with a poll showing 63 per cent of voters think the PM should resign. 

Labour also had a four-point lead in the Redfield & Wilton poll, the largest since the 2019 general election. 

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson announced a sudden shift in the Government’s approach to tackling coronavirus, with an extension of mask-wearing from Thursday, a return to working from home on Monday and mandatory Covid passports for large venues from Wednesday.

The move provoked a barrage of Tory criticism, fuelled by suspicions the measures were introduced as an attempt to distract from the Prime Minister’s troubles over an alleged staff party in Downing Street during last December’s lockdown.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a senior member of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, said Mr Johnson must ‘get a grip’ or risk losing the backing of his party.

He warned the PM that if his ‘bad month’ – which also saw fury over Tory sleaze – continued in the New Year, ‘then I think there would be a serious change of mind of giving him the benefit of the doubt’.

The scale of the Tory revolt means Mr Johnson may have to rely on Opposition support if his Plan B measures are to clear the Commons on Tuesday. Labour has said it will back the regulations, while the Liberal Democrats will support working from home but not vaccine passports.

A senior Tory source warned: ‘I think we will get it through with Opposition support, but there will be such a bloodbath within our party when the dissatisfaction sets in.’

Tory MP David Warburton labelled Plan B ‘confused, contradictory, arbitrary and wholly disproportionate’, adding: ‘This insanity needs to end.’ The new measures will not stop colleagues meeting at a pub to work, and officials suggested an exemption on face-covering rules would allow people to remove their masks in shops or cinemas to sing.

Tory Greg Smith said: ‘Go to the pub, but don’t go to work, wear a mask when shopping (unless you want to sing)… where will this end?’

Mansfield MP Ben Bradley branded vaccine passports ‘ineffective and discriminatory’, and said he could not ‘vote for restrictions ‘just in case’ at a time when hospitalisations and deaths are falling’.

Asked whether Tory rebels will be putting lives at risk, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The advice that we have received is without action – given the incredibly fast growth rate of this variant – the consequences, in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, could be severe.’ 

Sir Keir today said that Labour will vote in favour of the ‘Plan B’ measures. He said: ‘Obviously, we’re being urged to vote against them – because there’s a rebellion on the Government side.

‘But in this pandemic we have always put the public interest and public health first and that’s what we’ll do next week in supporting these measures.’

He said his party would decline the temptation of trying to take political advantage of any Tory rebellion.

‘I think that’s the wrong thing to do in a pandemic because it’s very important the Labour Party acts in the national interest,’ he said.

‘Having listened to the medical advisers, I am convinced that in the national interest we should support these measures, and therefore that’s what we will do.’

Several Cabinet ministers, including Kwasi Kwarteng, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Grant Shapps, are understood to feel Plan B is unnecessary at this point. 

Tory former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Cabinet was ‘full of scaredy-cats’ who panic rather than resist fresh curbs.

Questioned in a round of interviews on Thursday morning over whether it makes sense to instruct staff to work from home but go to parties and other social events, Mr Javid said: ‘I think it is proportionate, actually, when you look at these measures, whether it is the working-from-home guidance, the rules around face masks, the NHS Covid pass, and all of these.

‘It is a real sort of spectrum of response that you can have.

‘It could be guidance, you could have Covid passes clearly in more settings, you could have face masks in more settings, but you have to take a balanced decision that takes into account a number of factors and, of course, the key here is to slow the spread of the new variant, and these measures will help do that.’

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We, of course, keep them under review, but they will have a significant impact in slowing the spread of the variant.’

Economic experts have criticised the restrictions ahead of the crucial pre-Christmas period, warning they could cost the economy £4billion a month and ‘easily’ knock two per cent off the size of the economy. 

The hospitality industry said Plan B will kill off festive trade – a period when pubs, nightclubs and restaurants make a third of their annual profits. There are calls for a return to furlough and cash grants for restaurants, pubs, cafes, and bars.

Clive Wilson, Chairman of The City Pub Company, said together with rising energy costs and other pressures he expected to price of a pint to rise by around 40p.

‘For restaurants and the late night economy – a third of your profit is made in December. People have described this as a body blow – it’s more than that – it’s taking off the life support machine yet again,’ he said.

‘And I notice that the Chancellor is not providing any further state aid. ‘The current state aid is not enough. Please please give us that enhanced state aid to help us get through those leaner months otherwise a lot of businesses in our sector will run out of cash.’ 

Economic experts also criticised the move ahead of the crucial pre-Christmas period, warning they could cost the economy £4 billion a month and ‘easily’ knock 2 per cent off the size of the economy.  

Lord Sugar tweeted that the Prime Minister must be removed from office, saying: ‘Plan B. Boris is mental. Work from home but you can go to nightclubs and football matches if you are double vax. The man must go. Correct me if I am wrong but I have not heard of any one who had to go to hospital with this new strain let alone die. Small BIZ will collapse’.

Road congestion in London was on Thursday at its lowest level of the week so far for the morning rush hour, with TomTom data giving a figure of 68 per cent between 8am and 9am this morning.

This was down from 75 per cent yesterday, 79 per cent on Tuesday and 69 per cent on Monday for the same time period. It was also down on Thursday of last week, which was 73 per cent. 

TomTom data also revealed that Thursday saw the lowest congestion on a midweek day of Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday since the start of November.

It was last at such a low level when Thursday, November 4 had the same figure as Thursday of 68 per cent.

The midweek day analysis is important because in recent months many workers have been working from home on Mondays and Fridays but going into the office from Tuesday to Thursday.

The congestion level represents the extra travel time for drivers on average compared to baseline uncongested conditions – so a 68 per cent level means a 30-minute trip will take 20 minutes more than with no traffic.

In the Commons last night, Mr Harper said the evidence on the spread of Omicron, which has yet to hospitalise a single person in the UK, simply ‘doesn’t support the introduction of these measures’.

He told MPs: ‘Over the past couple of weeks the Government’s credibility, whether it’s on Paterson or on the Christmas parties, has taken a hit. 

‘Why should people at home, listening to the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary, do things that people working in No10 are not prepared to do?’

Fellow Tory Philip Davies criticised the ‘latest in a long line of arbitrary, unnecessary, socialist measures’ and suggested Mr Javid had ‘gone native’.

The Covid clampdown came just hours after the PM issued a rare apology over a leaked video that showed his former press secretary Allegra Stratton and other No10 aides appearing to laugh and joke about the alleged Christmas party during a mock press conference. 

No 10 said that it was ‘categorically untrue’ to suggest the move to Plan B had been accelerated to divert attention from the disastrous coverage of alleged rule-breaking by the PM’s staff.