Bring back work from home to help save Christmas

The Liberal Democrats have urged the government to bring back official guidance to work from home where possible, to help keep cases of the Omicron variant down ahead of Christmas.

The government's SAGE committee has previously said that working from home would have the biggest individual impact on reducing transmission of the virus, but ministers have so far ruled it out.

It comes as head of the UK Health Security Agency Jenny Harries this morning suggested working from home could be introduced if there is a surge in cases of the new variant, but for now called instead on people to reduce their social contacts this winter.

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

"Boris Johnson should bring back working from home now in order to help save Christmas. Everything we know about this virus suggests it's better to be cautious and act early.

"Ministers should listen to their own scientific advice, which found working from home would have the single biggest impact on reducing Covid cases. This could buy us precious extra time while our scientists find out more about the potential impact of this new worrying variant."