The UK government announced today that it will remove the need for testing for covid-19 before travel to England and rejected introducing further containment measures against the Omicron variant.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said in a statement in Parliament that the Council of Ministers agreed today that the so-called "Plan B" should continue for the next three weeks, until at least January 26, which involves teleworking and the mandatory wearing of masks in most closed public spaces.

"This government does not believe we need to close our country again," said Boris Johnson, quoted by Lusa, rejecting new restrictions, despite admitting that the country is experiencing "the fastest growth ever in covid cases."

"Hospitalizations are increasing rapidly, doubling every nine days, with more than 15,000 covid patients admitted to hospital in England alone. (...) And, potentially more worryingly, case rates are now increasing rapidly among the oldest and most vulnerable, including doubling every week among those over 60," he added.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson acknowledged on Tuesday that some units of the public health system (NHS) may be "temporarily overloaded."

"The NHS is under great pressure. I'm not going to give a definition of what would constitute being overloaded, because I think different units and different places at different times will feel at least temporarily overloaded," he admitted at a press conference.

Non-emergency operations have been delayed at 17 Greater Manchester hospitals because up to 15% of staff are on sick leave or in isolation, the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership regional board has indicated.