Boris Johnson decides on 'no lockdown' before Christmas

Despite growing number of Covid cases and mounting pressure from locals, UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided that no lockdown will be imposed in the country till Christmas.

The leader, who is battling personal controversies, decided that his officials will keep a close eye on the situation and the Covid surge will stay "under constant review".

Also read | Moderna says its booster shot is effective against Omicron variant

"In view of the balance of risks and uncertainties, particularly around the infection hospitalisation rate of Omicron... we agreed that we should keep the data from now on under constant review, keep following it hour by hour," Johnson said.

This announcement comes at a time when scientific experts had been telling the government officials that strong action plan is needed to control the wide spread of the deadly coronavirus, especially its new Omicron variant.

Also read | Moderna says its booster shot is effective against Omicron variant

However, Johnson’s ministers decided that social distancing, limited gatherings and other such measures can be implemented after Christmas.

Meanwhile, Johnson has assured that the health experts at the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will not suffer due to this surge in Covid cases. "We will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public and to protect public health and protect our NHS (National Health Service) -- and we won't hesitate to take that action," Johnson said.

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"We're looking at all kinds of things to keep Omicron under control and we will rule nothing out, but at the moment we want people to focus on exercising caution."

This announcement by the government comes at a time when the country reported 91,743 new infections on Monday, with highest number of cases in London.