Covid: Health Secretary Sajid Javid to detail new measures

Health Secretary Sajid Javid is due to outline how and when new Covid measures will come into force in the UK's response to the new Omicron variant.

The PM has announced mandatory face masks in shops and on public transport in England and PCR tests will be required for all overseas arrivals.

Arrivals from 10 new red list countries will need to quarantine for 10 days.

Mr Javid is expected to provide more details when he appears on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show at 09:00 GMT.

MPs will be given a subsequent vote in Parliament.

But the measures - announced by Boris Johnson in a news conference on Saturday after the confirmation of the first two confirmed cases of the new variant in the UK - do not go as far as the government's Plan B, which ministers have long said is their contingency plan if intervention on Covid is needed to protect the NHS.

So that means it it not expected that ministers will introduce vaccine passports in England or issue advice to work from home. Mr Johnson explained in the news conference that he was happy that the current "proportionate" response was keeping number of the dominant Delta variant of Covid under control.

Labour has called for full implementation of Plan B and for improved sick pay to encourage self-isolation.

The government says it will review the new measures in three weeks - just before most schools break up for the Christmas holidays.

This is a moment the government had wanted to avoid.

We've got used to restrictions in England being lifted. But for the first time in months, they're now being re-imposed in response to the new variant.

And these restrictions could have a significant impact.

For example, anyone who goes on holiday will now need to pay for a PCR test and self-isolate until they get a negative result. If Omicron spreads quickly, there could be a lot of people forced to self-isolate for 10 days as close contacts.

But the government hasn't gone for its full plan B. Masks won't be mandatory in hospitality settings in England like they are in Scotland and Wales.

People aren't being told to work from home - and there still aren't plans for vaccine passports.

But it's a sign of the uncertainty and concern in Whitehall that Boris Johnson felt he had to announce these measures.

The government was criticised in some quarters for acting too slowly to stem the spread of the now dominant Delta variant, so it says it is acting more swiftly against this latest variant of concern.

Mr Johnson pointed out that the danger posed by Omicron - which was first reported from South Africa, with early evidence suggesting it has a higher reinfection risk - was only flagged up to them on Thursday this week.

Mr Johnson said: "We need to slow down the spread of this variant here in the UK, because measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant rather than stop it all together."