Just three weeks ago, Sajid Javid was confident that the country would “have a great Christmas” as he ruled out the prospect of another lockdown to deal with the omicron variant of coronavirus.

Yesterday, the Health Secretary said he could now guarantee nothing, as the new strain continues to tear through society faster than anything seen before. As we report today, he and Boris Johnson are considering three options, ranging from guidance to limit social contact over Christmas through to curfews on hospitality settings and finally a “circuit breaker” lockdown.

They should stick with first of these because another lockdown would be a betrayal of a promise to the country. We were assured that if we were vaccinated – and most of us answered the call – the Government would pursue a different policy, of learning to live with Covid.

The main reason that this is being abandoned is not because the new strain is especially dangerous to most people but because hospitals risk being overwhelmed, mainly by people who have refused the jab. What is to be done about them?

In any case, the Government does not need to order another lockdown because it is already happening. People are making their own judgments about social mixing, working from home and pre-Christmas hospitality in the light of what they  are being told about the progress of the pandemic.

The omicron variant is now dominating here, as it will soon in continental Europe, where countries have pointlessly closed their borders to British travellers. The most pressing problem now is how to deal with a collapse in staffing in emergency services and other key sectors including food processing, delivery and shops.

It is estimated that by New Year’s Day one-third of all hospital employees in London will be isolating for 10 days, often with a mild illness they might be free from within two or three. The length of isolation must be reduced urgently if a crisis is to be averted. Rather than contemplate another lockdown, the Government must accelerate the roll-out of anti-viral drugs, which has been far too slow, and seek to treat Covid sufferers at home wherever possible to stop the hospitals coming under intolerable pressure.

We risk being trapped in a vicious circle with a health service that cannot cope without lockdown measures, which in turn exacerbate the problems it faces, and on it goes. It has to stop.