Boris Johnson appeals to British public for "tens of thousands" of volunteers to speed up booster jabs UK prime minister Boris Johnson has issued an appeal to members of the public to step forward to assist the Covid booster jab programme in a race to counter the new Omicron variant. Johnson, who announced the new mass booster programme on Sunday, said “tens of thousands” of volunteers were needed in order to ramp up delivery of booster jabs to an unprecedented pace. Roles needing to be filled by volunteers range from stewards to organise and manage the queues to trained vaccinators to administer the jabs. On Sunday, Johnson announced that every eligible adult in England is to be offered a booster shot by the end of December, a month earlier than previously planned, while resources are being made available to the devolved nations to speed up delivery. Johnson has acknowledged that it will require an “extraordinary effort” by the NHS, with hundreds more vaccination sites, mobile units and pop-ups due to open over the coming week. In a direct appeal to the public, Johnson said: As part of our Get Boosted Now vaccination drive we need to increase our jabbing capacity to unprecedented levels. But to achieve something on this scale, we need your help. So today I’m issuing a call for volunteers to join our national mission to get jabs in arms. We need tens of thousands of people to help out, everyone from trained vaccinators to stewards. Many thousands have already given their time but we need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives. So please come forward if you can. There currently almost 3,000 vaccine sites across the country, staffed by over 90,000 volunteers, PA reports. After the NHS last week announced a recruitment drive for 10,000 paid vaccinators, 4,500 people have registered their interest while 13,000 have come forward as volunteer stewards. Brazil logged 2,082 fresh infections and 48 new deaths from Covid-19 on Monday as infections are still decreasing in the country, with 7,133 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 9% of the peak, which was reached on 23 June, according to the Reuters Covid-19 Tracker. Overall, 22,188,179 infections and 616,744 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in the country since the pandemic began. California to impose mask mandate for all indoor public spaces California will impose a statewide mask mandate in all indoor public spaces as Covid-19 case rates soar with the spread of the new Omicron variant, the state secretary of health and human services, Mark Ghaly, said on Monday. As of Saturday, 7.4 million of California’s population of around 40 million had received their booster jab, according to the office of governor Gavin Newsom. My colleague Dan Sabbagh has written up a piece on how the NHS will gear up for the “huge challenge” of delivering prime minister Boris Johnson’s new booster jab target: Doctors, nurses and NHS executives will have to find a way of trebling the rate of booster vaccinations to more than 1.2m a day if they are to offer all eligible adults in the UK a jab by the end of December. The target came as a surprise to the health service, which will now have to find staff to work through the holiday season, alongside the 750 military personnel drafted in to assist them. Covid-19 cases in Canada may rapidly rise in the coming days due to community spread of the Omicron variant, mirroring the situation in the country’s most populous province of Ontario, Canada’s top health official said on Monday. Ontario, which accounts for almost 40% of Canada’s population of 39 million people, reported 1,536 cases of Covid-19 on Monday, a more-than 70% increase from a week ago, including 80 cases of the Omicron variant. The surge has prompted the provincial government to suspend easing of restrictions that were planned to be lifted ahead of the holiday season, Reuters reports. The World Health Organization has said that the Omicron coronavirus variant poses a “very high” global risk, having reached over 60 countries, while it remains unclear for the moment how much vaccines can protect against it. Ontario has directed government staff, who started gradually returning to their offices in November, to go back to working from home at least until early-February, CTV news reported Monday. The University of Victoria in the provimce of British Columbia announced on Sunday that it will be moving its in-person exams online from Monday after a rise in Covid-19 cases on Vancouver Island. Schools in England should not be closing early for Christmas unless they have been told it is “necessary” on public health grounds, the British government has said. The prime minister’s official spokesman indicated that schools would be kept open unless there is an “absolute public health emergency”, PA reports. Asked whether schools might close early for Christmas, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: Certainly we do not think anyone should be closing schools early unless they have received advice from the local director of public health that it’s necessary on public health grounds. We wouldn’t want to see that happening routinely, just as a precaution, because as I’ve said, education is vital. And we’ve seen, sadly, because of the public health crisis, children have to miss face-to-face education. And so it’s very important that we maintain schooling as much as possible. The NASUWT teaching union however is calling on education secretary Nadhim Zahawi to urgently announce additional measures for schools and colleges before the Christmas break to avoid a repeat of the “chaos” last year. The Government should advise schools to cancel or postpone non-essential activities and events immediately, as well as move to online staff and parental meetings, the union says. A staggered return of pupils in January should be considered and extra on-site testing facilities should be provided until the February half-term, the union says. Health secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday he could not guarantee schools would not close again due to the pandemic. Zahawi said on Sunday he could not guarantee that all schools would be open everywhere in January. Northern Ireland is set to be overwhelmed by the Covid-19 variant Omicron “very, very soon”, the deputy first minister warned on Monday. Michelle O’Neill said there were 10 confirmed cases of the new Covid-19 variant in Northern Ireland on Monday. PA reports: Earlier first minister Paul Givan urged take-up of the Covid vaccination booster, warning that a “storm coming our way”. However his party [the DUP] has opposed Covid certification for entering some hospitality venues. On Monday evening, MLAs debated the regulations in the Assembly chamber where health minister Robin Swann urged united support for the scheme. “A united front is what we need, with joined up policies and united messaging. That has been sadly lacking at critical stages to date,” he told MLAs. “It is my fervent hope that today marks a turning point, that, given the seriousness of our situation, that this House can debate this measure rationally and respectfully.” However, DUP MLA Pam Cameron said her party will not back the Covid certification scheme. There was a protest at Stormont earlier by those opposed to the scheme. Former DUP economy minister Paul Frew, a vocal critic of mandatory certification, was among a number of party members who met with the protesters outside Parliament Buildings. He suggested the scheme could be halted by way of legal challenge. “There are going to be legal challenges, there is no doubt about that and that’s where it might be stopped,” he told demonstrators. “I hear you 100%, and I’m with you, but this will only be tested legally.” Speaking inside the Assembly chamber, Ms O’Neill called for parties to unite. “If ever there was a time for a united front on the public health message, it’s today because we’re facing into a very, very difficult period in the weeks ahead where we see this new variant now coming on stream, we’re probably about two weeks behind what’s happening in England and Scotland and they are getting into very difficult territory,” she told MLAs during Executive Office questions. “We are going to be overwhelmed with this new variant very, very soon. “My priority is to keep businesses open and safe. I want to keep every door opened but to make sure it’s a safe space for people to enter.” Ms O’Neill also said she had spent the weekend speaking to the Treasury, making the case “very strongly” for financial support for businesses. “That’s where we would want to be if we could have the resource to be able to do that,” she added. The vaccine booster programme in Northern Ireland is being accelerated in response to the threat posed by Omicron and has opened up to all over-30s. [...] On Monday morning there were 309 Covid positive patients in hospital, of whom 32 were in intensive care. The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to New York’s refusal to allow religious exemptions to its mandate that certain healthcare workers in the state be vaccinated against Covid-19. Acting in two cases, the justices denied emergency requests for an injunction requiring the state to allow religious exemptions while litigation over the mandate’s legality continues in lower courts. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the injunction, Reuters reports. Norway to ban serving of alcohol in hospitality to curb Omicron outbreak Norway will ban the serving of alcohol in bars and restaurants, impose stricter rules in schools and speed up vaccination as part of new efforts to curb the outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the government said on Monday. Remote working will be compulsory where possible, mask mandates will be extended and access to public swimming pools and gyms restricted. The measures will come into force overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday and are expected to last four weeks. “For many this will feel like a lockdown, if not of society then of their lives and of their livelihoods,” prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference. The move comes after the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) warned on Monday that restrictions must be tightened to avoid up to 300,000 people contracting Covid every day. The institute added that there could be up to 200 hospital admissions daily unless stricter measures were put in place. On Monday, Norway logged 358 hospitalisations with Covid, a new daily record. Night clubs in England will have to ask revellers who prefer using their Covid pass to gain entry instead of doing a lateral flow test to show proof that they have had a booster jab as part of future plans, the British health secretary has said. Sajid Javid told parliament on Monday that it is the government’s intention to include proof of a booster jab, once all adults have had a chance to get theirs. He said: From Wednesday - subject to this House’s approval - you’ll need to show a negative lateral flow test to get into nightclubs and large events, with an exemption for the double vaccinated. Once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab, we intend to change this exemption to require a booster dose. MPs are due to vote on Tuesday on the requirement for NHS Covid passes showing a person’s vaccine details or test results in England, which would come into effect from Wednesday. But Javid said it was “misleading” to say MPs are being asked to vote on “vaccine passports”. He said: The government has been absolutely clear about when it talks about access to nightclubs or to very large gatherings [...] that the requirement is to take a free lateral flow test and make sure it’s negative. And if you don’t want to do that then you can prove your vaccine status. It’s up to that individual. That’s not a vaccine passport and the sooner we get rid of this misleading description of what the government is proposing, the better. The NHS in England was put onto a crisis footing on Monday night as hospitals were told to discharge as many patients as possible ahead of a potential Omicron-driven surge in Covid cases. Anyone possible should be discharged to care homes, hospices, their own homes and hotels before Christmas in order to free up beds, amid warnings that January could see hospitals caring for even greater numbers of patients than they did at the worst point of the pandemic back in January. Hospitals and GPs have also been told to scale back the normal services they provide, and limit care to those needing urgent attention, so NHS staff can be freed up to deliver boosters, in a letter from NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and medical director Prof Stephen Powis, who said the service is now facing a major threat classes as a Level 4 “national incident”. Hospitals will undertake fewer non-urgent operations but “highest clinical priority patients”, including people with cancer and those who have been waiting a long time, will be given priority. They have also been told to take ambulance-borne patients into A&E quicker so that paramedics can get back on the road to answer more 999 calls, speed up efforts to bring in nurses from overseas to help tackle the NHS’s lack of staff and send as many patients as possible for surgery at private hospitals. It is understood that 386,000 people in England booked booster jabs – almost 50,000 an hour – during the course of Monday, the first day after Boris Johnson’s appeal to the public to get fully vaccinated as a matter of urgency. However, sources concede that health service bosses do not know when they will be able to hit the 1m jabs a day the prime minister has said are needed. Travel restrictions imposed on people coming to the UK should be removed given how widespread the Omicron variant is in the country, the British health secretary suggested on Monday. PA reports: Sajid Javid told MPs the justification for having the rules is “minimised” by the new coronavirus variant “spreading rapidly” throughout the country. He added he has raised the matter with transport ministers and he hopes the government “can act quickly”. His remarks came after Labour former minister Ben Bradshaw repeated his call for the “very draconian, costly and complex” travel rules introduced only recently to try and stop Omicron arriving in the UK to be dropped. The UK’s largest airlines and travel companies have also expressed their concerns about the “haphazard and disproportionate” restrictions imposed by the government. Tougher rules introduced due to Omicron mean everyone entering the UK must have evidence of a negative pre-departure test, and self-isolate until they receive a negative result from a post-arrival test. People arriving in the UK from the 11 African countries currently on the red list must spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel at a cost of 2,285 for solo travellers. Mr Javid told the House of Commons: “I think [Mr Bradshaw] makes a very good point, given that we already know that the Omicron variant is fast becoming the dominant variant in our capital city, spreading rapidly throughout the country, the justification for having those rules is minimised. “It’s something that I’ve already raised with my colleagues in the Department for Transport and I do hope that we can act quickly.” [...] It comes as ministers are set to consider whether to replace hotel quarantine with self-isolation at home for fully vaccinated travellers. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK Labour party, has backed the government’s moves to ramp up the Covid booster jab programme as he warned the NHS is in danger of being “overwhelmed” by the emergence of the new Omicron variant. Starmer said that it was essential to put the national interest first as he urged people to “stick to the rules” and get their top-up injections. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday that every eligible adult in England was to be offered a third dose of the vaccine by the end of December. In a televised address in response, Starmer said ministers should have acted sooner in the face of the threat from the fast-spreading Omicron strain. He said: We may not be certain how dangerous it is but we do know that lives are at risk and again our NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed. If that happens more people will die. So we must do everything that we can to protect the NHS. Sir Keir said delivering the accelerated booster jab programme would be a “big challenge” but that he was confident the public would rise to meet it. Time and time again the British people have risen to the challenge so let’s pull together now and do the right thing once more,” he said. At times like this, we must all put the national interest first and play by the rules. Of course I understand that sticking to the rules can be inconvenient but stick to the rules we must. It would be easy to let the festivities we’ve all been looking forward to, divert us from our national duty. Getting jabbed, wearing masks and working from home if we can really will help prevent infections and help prevent the NHS being overwhelmed. Hello, I’m Jedidajah Otte and I’ll be taking over now. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to flag anything you think is relevant to our coverage, I’m on Twitter @JedySays or you can email me. Nigeria will destroy around 1 million expired Covid-19 vaccines, the head of its primary care agency has said. It’s been a quieter day today as Omicron continues its spread around the world, but the blog has still posted about lots of important developments. Cyprus introduced new measures to curb a Covid surge, including vaccinations for 11-15 year olds, isolation for cases and close contacts, and bringing forward boosters. China reported its first Omicron case in the northern city of Tianjin from an overseas returnee. The UK reported its first patient to have died from Omicron, as the government issued a warning to the public not to assume the variant is less dangerous than other strains. Citizens are rushing to get their booster jabs to protect themselves against the new variant, which is poised to replace Delta as the dominant strain in the UK, with queues round the block for vaccination centres and the NHS website crashing under the demand for appointments. Norway announced plans to introduce new restrictions, which will be unveiled at a press conference tonight. Rachel Hall here signing out for the rest of the day. Thanks for following and for sharing your tips and insights with me. The global Covid blog will continue this evening, in Jedidajah Otte’s capable hands.