New year ‘too late’ for extra Covid rules in England, scientists say

Reaction comes after Boris Johnson announces there will be no additional measures put in place for now

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Scientists have reacted with dismay to Boris Johnson's decision not to impose fresh restrictions to curb the spread of Omicron, emphasising that waiting until the new year would almost certainly be too late to have a material impact on the epidemic".

Because the rate of growth in infection rates may already have plateaued or fallen by then, it may also be too late to know what impact those restrictions would have had if they had been introduced earlier. We are damned if we do and damned if we don't," said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia.