In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has urged people to limit their socialising to three households before and after Christmas to help combat the omicron variant. 

In a statement at the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish First Minister warned that omicron cases were “increasing exponentially”. 

No doubt this will all be noted by Downing Street staff who may or may not have attended a Christmas party last year.

They have been warned not to delete evidence relating to last year’s alleged gatherings, amid fears that vital information may have been wiped from Government email servers. 

Meanwhile, Dominic Raab has caused confusion by wrongly saying there were 250 people in hospital in England with omicron – the figure was 10.

Omicron ‘less severe’

Thankfully, the Plan B measures come amid some reassuring research. 

Omicron is likely to be 23pc less severe than delta with vaccines still offering good protection, the first major real-world study into the new variant has shown. 

A study of more than 78,000 omicron cases in South Africa recorded between Nov 15 and Dec 7 also found that the Pfizer jab still offers 70pc protection against hospitalisation after two doses. 

The research showed that, compared with the first Wuhan strain, the virus led to 29pc fewer admissions to hospital, with 23pc fewer hospital admissions compared with delta. 

Yet as the booster campaign tries to minimise risk from the variant in the UK, former UK Vaccine Taskforce chief Clive Dix outlines why the booster strategy makes little sense.

Furlough warning

Sajid Javid also announced in the Commons that all 11 countries on the travel red list will be removed from 4am on Wednesday. 

Ministers at today’s Covid O Cabinet meeting accepted the red list was no longer required to protect the UK from the import of the omicron variant, ending the need for travellers to isolate in hotels on their arrival in the UK. 

That cannot come soon enough for those inside, as Greg Dickinson reveals after seeing his friends in hotel quarantine, which “felt like visiting a prison”. 

However, the Government may yet receive a visit from another ghost of Christmas past, after the International Monetary Fund warned that Rishi Sunak should prepare to bring back the furlough scheme if businesses are forced into another lockdown this winter.

Today’s other Covid headlines

Around the world: Ship crash crew ‘exceeded limit’

Crew members on board a British-bound cargo ship involved in a fatal collision tested positive for drugs and alcohol, the vessel’s owner confirmed. Two people were arrested after an Inverness-registered ship called Scot Carrier collided with Danish boat Karin Hoej in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish coast. One of Karin Hoej’s crew remains missing at sea. See where the collision took place and images of the capsized boat.

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