THE Government is set to continue with Plan B restrictions amid record number of Covid cases.

Boris Johnson gave a press conference at Downing Street this evening, alongside chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser sir Patrick Vallance.

Mr Johnson said the NHS was on a “war footing” but further restrictions were not needed.

Read more: Covid test: Latest self-isolation rules if you test positive

He said the latest record Covid case figures showed that those who believed the pandemic to be over were “profoundly wrong”.

However, he said the country has the chance to “ride out” the Omicron wave and avoid a further national lockdown.

Speaking at Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: “Our United Kingdom is in the midst of the fastest growth in Covid cases that we’ve ever known.

“Previous waves of the pandemic didn’t have a single day with more than 100,000 new cases reported, one day last week we had 200,000 people test positive.

“And the latest figure today is another 218,000, though that includes some delayed reports.

“So anyone who thinks our battle with Covid is over, I’m afraid is profoundly wrong.

“This is a moment for the utmost caution.”

Read more: Covid Omicron cases surge across the North East over Christmas period

The Government said a further 218,724 were reported as of 9am on Tuesday.

The Government also said a further 48 people had died in England within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

Tuesday’s figures contain some delayed reporting of cases because of the holiday period.

A total of 15,044 people were in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of 8am on January 4, according to figures from NHS England.

This is up 58 per cent from a week earlier and is the highest number since February 18.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number peaked at 34,336 on January 18.

In London, 3,993 people were in hospital with Covid-19 on January 4, up 32 per cent week on week and the highest number since February 11.

In the North East and Yorkshire, patient numbers are up 99 per cent week on week to 2,146, the highest since February 21, while in the North West numbers are up 88 per cent week-on-week to 2,618, the highest since February 15.

The Government has identified 100,000 critical workers who will be offered daily lateral flow tests to help keep essential services open.

Areas such as food processing, transport and the Border Force will be sent test kits for every working day from January 10, the Prime Minister said.

He added: “As the NHS moves to a war footing I will be recommending to Cabinet tomorrow we continue with Plan B because the public have responded and changed their behaviour buying valuable time to get boosters in arms.”

Booster doses provide 88% of “overall protection against being hospitalised”, England’s chief medical officer has said.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty said: “We now have confidence that the booster provides around 88 per cent overall protection against being hospitalised and it is likely to be even greater than that for severe disease and mortality.”

Sir Chris also urged anyone how had not yet received a booster to come forward.

He said: “Anybody who has not been boosted who is eligible really should do so. I think the idea that this is a mild disease, as opposed to less likely to be hospitalised, is easily demonstrated to be incorrect based on these data.”

He was referring to the high numbers of older people still being sent to hospital, because of the Omicron variant’s transmissibility.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Darlington Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054