A Government minister has said it is 'looking positive' that Plan B measures could be lifted when they are up for review next week.
The restrictions which include working from home where possible, mandatory face masks in many settings, and Covid passports, are due to be reviewed on Wednesday, January 26.
The Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast: “If you look at infection rates, they remain high, hospitalisations is still high, touching 20,000 people in hospital, but it feels like they’re plateauing.
“The good news is the number of people in ICU has been coming down, certainly in London, which was the epicentre, the level of staff absence in education has remained pretty flat, it was 8% before Christmas, it’s at about 8.5% at the moment.
“So I’m confident that when we review this on the 26th of January, as we said we would do, then we’ll be in a much better place to lift some of these restrictions.
“But it’s worth remembering that because we stuck to Plan B this economy is the most open economy in Europe.”
