It’s the morning after an eventful day where Boris Johnson announced new Covid restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant
Boris Johnson held a conference on Wednesday to announce the new restrictions, which will see face masks reintroduced in most indoor settings from Friday and a 'vaccine passport' made a requirement for large indoor and outdoor venues.
People are also being advised to work from home, all in a bid to tackle the rising Omicron variant that scientists fear will soon become the dominant strain in the UK.
As Mancunians made their way through the city centre; some to work, some to study and some out to just to see what the day brings, the Manchester Evening News ventured out to ask them what they thought about the government announcement.
READ MORE: When do 'Plan B' restrictions come into force in England?
Some, though, thought the sudden introduction of the new rules was nothing more than a ‘cover up’ to distract from the news about an alleged Christmas party held at 10 Downing Street last December when the rest of the country were in lockdown.
A member of the public, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “We need to stop saying the words ‘alleged party’ I know it happened, you know it happened. I’m not surprised by this at all.”
However, Peter Yarwood, 60, from Astley, was for the new restrictions, saying that it was something he’d seen on the horizon for quite some time.
What do you think of the new restrictions? Have your say in our comments below
However, he was quick to stress that he did not view the new announcement as a distraction to the Downing Street parties.
He said: “The timing on announcing the new restrictions are unfortunate because I think they were coming down the line.
“The emergence of a new variant clearly shows that we’re not out of this and we’re gonna have to learn to live with this. It’s as simple as that.
“I wouldn’t like to think that Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance have been used in such a way. Like a diversion tactic.”
And 20-year-old music student, Isabelle Norwood, said she was ‘glad’ the government are taking action to curb the rise in cases.
She said: “I’m quite glad that they're doing it because the cases are going up.
“I know a few people who have got Covid and I think they’re coming through with some actions to prevent it spreading too far.”
But a local business owner in the Northern Quarter, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were bracing themselves for the worst and described the recent news as 'nightmare'.
They said they have already some overnight cancellations since the announcement about the new rules.
They said: “When I saw the news break I just thought, ‘here we go again’.
“I’m talking to a lot of restaurants that I know and they’re already massively down with numbers.
“Other people have said their business has seen massive cancellations overnight since yesterdays news.
“We’ve had a couple cancellations ourselves, but people are just scared. It’s totally understandable but from a business perspective it’s just an absolute nightmare.
“I hope they find out that the vaccine can tackle the variant just as well as the others and it shouldn’t be such a big issue.”
His views were echoed by chef Gary User, who said "100s and 100s of cancellations" were made in the wake of the Prime Minister's announcement on Wednesday night.
He said on his Twitter account this morning: "Can't lie last night's plan b news is devastating for my industry.
"I'm trying to think of positive things to say about getting through December but I don't have anything.
"On an absolute downer about this. Telling people to work from home has instantly ripped up Christmas reservations."
But one member of the public the MEN spoke to said they were ‘fed up’ with the constant news cycle around the pandemic and opted to abstain from reading anything about it to protect their mental health.
“I'm fed up with it to be honest.
“I didn’t even bother to read the news or find out what the new rules are. It’s depressing to be honest.
“It’s the same old, same old. We think we’ve gone back to normal and they pull the carpet from under you.”
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