Promising Omicron data could have Plan B scrapped within days, says Oliver Dowden

He said the latest coronavirus data is “heading in the right direction”, fuelling hopes the current rules will be ditched. Plan B restrictions – which include the mandatory wearing of masks in some settings, the use of vaccine passports or negative tests to enter some venues, and working from home guidance – are due for review in nine days. “It has always been my hope that we would have the Plan B restrictions for the shortest period possible,” the Conservative Party’s chairman said.

“I’m in no doubt the kind of burdens this puts hospitality, wider business, schools and so on under, and I want us to get rid of those if we possibly can. “The signs are encouraging but, clearly, we will wait to see the data ahead of that final decision.”

He added: “We have seen some very promising data whether that is in relation to infections or hospitalisations and that of course hasn’t happened by accident? “We have now got over 60 per cent of the total population covered with the booster vaccine and actually over 90 per cent of over-50s.”

His comments come after Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, said infection levels in London, the South-east and East of England are flattening off. She also said growth is slowing in the North overall even though case numbers are still rising there.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he hopes Plan B restrictions can be lifted “as soon as possible”. He told the BBC: “I want them to be lifted because the medical science says they should be lifted, not simply because the Prime Minister is in a real mess and he’s desperately trying to get out of it.”

The isolation period in England for those who test positive for Covid will be reduced to five days from today. People will be able to leave their isolation five full days after experiencing symptoms or receiving a positive test result, whichever is first, provided they have negative tests on days five and six.

Meanwhile, hundreds more daily train services are being cut in response to pandemic-related staff shortages. Avanti West Coast, C2C, East Midlands Railway and SouthWestern Railway are the latest operators to use emergency timetables from today in a bid to cut cancellations.

It was estimated earlier this month that around 10 percent of rail staff were off work amid the latest Omicron wave. In the capital, extended improvement works on the key Northern Line, due to end in mid-May, are now under way.

Travellers are being forced to squash onto the other main Tube route which links the north to the south, the Victoria Line, making social distancing on carriages impossible, opposite. A further 70,924 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in the UK as of 9am yesterday while a further 88 people had died.