Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid try to quell hospitality fears over limiting socialising

tunisante December 1, 2021 Health

Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid today tried to quell hospitality fears after health experts suggested it was ‘sensible’ for people to limit socialising over the festive period.

The Prime Minister urged people not to cancel Christmas parties or school nativity plays as he pledged to ‘throw everything’ at the booster vaccination campaign to tackle the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

He promised that everyone eligible would be offered a jab by the end of January with at least 400 military personnel helping the NHS, and vaccination centres ‘popping up like Christmas trees’.

Mr Johnson rejected a call from a senior health official to limit socialising in the run-up to Christmas, insisting that he had already put in place a package of ‘balanced and proportionate measures’ in response to the threat posed by the new variant.

But as cases of Omicron reached 22 in the UK, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said they were likely to go higher and ‘we have to be realistic’ that there is already likely to be transmission of the new strain within the community.

He added that people should get vaccinated to ‘give ourselves the best chance of a Christmas with our loved ones’.

Mr Javid said: ‘What we’re seeing recently has brought back memories of the strain of the last winter. But although we can’t say with certainty what lies ahead, we have one huge advantage that we didn’t have back then: our vaccination programme, which has already done so much to keep this virus at bay.

‘But these defences will only keep us safe if we use them. This is a national mission and we all have a role to play.

‘If we want to give ourselves the best chance of a Christmas with our loved ones, the best thing we can all do is step up, roll up our sleeves, and get protected when the time comes.’

The mandatory wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport came into force in England on Tuesday morning, along with tighter testing requirements for international travel and the return of self-isolation for contacts of confirmed Omicron cases, even if they have been fully vaccinated.

But it is the booster campaign which the Government believes provides the greatest line of defence against Omicron and Mr Johnson used a Downing Street press conference to promise another ‘great British vaccination effort’ to deliver millions of jabs.

‘We’re going to be throwing everything at it, in order to ensure that everyone eligible is offered that booster in just over two months,’ he said.

Mr Javid said the booster programme would be put ‘on steroids’ to meet the target, while NHS England’s chief executive Amanda Pritchard said staff are working at ‘breakneck speed’.

The announcement of the rapid expansion of the booster campaign came as Downing Street was embroiled in a row with a senior health official over her suggestion that people should limit social contacts in the run-up to Christmas.

The Government’s top health experts earlier said a wary approach to office parties could help stop the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

But bosses of beleaguered hospitality businesses – still recovering from nearly two years of Covid disruption – today warned further setbacks could be the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for some venues.

Others warned the Government not to be heavy-handed with restrictions in what they described as a ‘critical time for the sector’.

It comes as Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency and boss of NHS Test and Trace, said ‘being careful’ and ‘not socialising when we don’t particularly need to’ could be beneficial.

She also hinted there could be a return to working from home guidance in England if cases increase as she said that ‘if we see surges, then working from home will be a good thing to do’.

Mr Johnson was asked about Dr Harries’ socialising comments during a visit to a vaccination centre in London at lunchtime and he said he believes it is ‘always sensible to be careful’ and ‘I think what Jenny is saying there is right’.

However, the Prime Minister insisted that the Government is ‘not going to change the overall guidance’ as he said he is sticking with his original response to the new variant.

Meanwhile, Downing Street rejected the idea of a potential return to working from home as the PM’s Official Spokesman said ‘it is not our advice to the public currently’.

The Government’s new Omicron-focused rules in England came into effect at 4am this morning and include making face masks compulsory in shops and on public transport, requiring returning travellers to take a PCR test on or before day two after their arrival in the UK and forcing all contacts of a case of the variant to self-isolate for 10 days.

The new rules have sparked a backlash from hospitality bosses who have warned the measures, as well as the suggestion that socialising should be limited, could strike a hammer blow to the struggling sector.

Meanwhile, the aviation industry has also expressed major concerns about the tougher testing requirements for holidaymakers.

Airline easyJet said it is already seeing some impact on demand because of the new variant as it revealed annual losses of more than £1billion.

Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan today urged people in the capital to go beyond the Government’s face mask rules as he called for coverings to be worn in pubs and restaurants as well.

Nationally, the restrictions are to be reviewed again in three weeks, which means Britons could be stung with last-minute curbs just days before Christmas.

However Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester’s Night Time Economy Adviser, warned last minute changes could be a huge hit from hospitality business.

He said: ‘If the hospitality sector is not supported and closes in December, it will be the final nail in the coffin for many of our beloved venues.

‘With the news of the Omicron variant, pubs, bars and restaurants are already seeing cancellations.

‘This festive period was supposed to help these businesses reach back to pre-pandemic levels and boost revenues for the first time in months.’

He added: ‘If the Chancellor does not plan these essential support packages for the country’s pubs and bars, they are at risk of closing come January.’

The comments come as, on another day of Covid chaos:

The crackdown on mask-flouters in London began today as Tube officials threatened to fine non-compliant commuters £200 if they refuse to cover their faces;
Winter holiday plans for thousands of Britons were thrown into chaos after Switzerland suddenly tightened Covid entry rules over fears of the Omicron variant;
Data revealed the South African province where the Omicron Covid variant was first detected has suffered a more than 300 percent increase in virus related hospitalisations this week;
Vaccine maker Moderna warned it will take months to develop an Omicron-specific booster;
Nicola Sturgeon slammed the brakes on restrictions easing in Scotland;
Retail bosses warned that they cannot be expected to enforce new facemask rules in shops;
Universities, colleges and secondary schools in Wales have been told they should now enforce masks indoors.

Most Britons predict a restricted Christmas, polls show

The Government’s new Omicron-focused rules in England came into effect at 4am this morning.

They include making face masks compulsory in shops and on public transport, requiring returning travellers to take a PCR test on or before day two after their arrival in the UK and forcing all contacts of a case of the variant to self-isolate for 10 days.

In light of the new rules, YouGov conducted a poll asking 5950 Britons whether they expected further restrictions in the run-up to Christmas.

It found that 68 per cent predict more restrictions are likely in the coming weeks, with 23 per cent thinking they are ‘very likely’.

Meanwhile, 13 per cent responded ‘somewhat unlikely’; six per cent as ‘very unlikely’ and 13 per cent as ‘don’t know’.

The poll also questioned Britons on whether they supported the rollout of booster jabs to all over-18s.

A total 82 per cent were supportive of the development, while one in ten (10 per cent) opposed it.

‘This all comes at a critical time for the sector, as costs are rising across the board, supply chain issues continue, chronic labour shortages show no sign of easing and next year will see a return of 20 per cent VAT rate.’

In a round of interviews, Mr Khan today said: ‘One of my requests from the Government is, let’s not have a hokey cokey when it comes to face mask-wearing where they’re going to review it in three weeks’ time.

‘As far as I’m concerned, on public transport — because more often than not we’ve got to be confined, we can’t keep our social distance — let’s keep it at mandatory with the ability to back it up with the police, with the ability to issue fines even in three weeks’ time, finger crossed, should Omicron not be as bad as some fear.’

Mr Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference at 4pm this afternoon to outline how to book booster jabs amid fears the top-up drive will not be able to keep up with ministers’ demands for at least 500,000 a day.

NHS leaders today demanded the Army be called back in to help hit the target after GPs warned No10 that some face-to-face appointments with patients will have to go if they are expected to help.

The Government’s vaccines advisers have expanded the rollout to everyone aged over 18 despite those already eligible struggling to get one before Christmas or having to travel 35 miles or more to their nearest vaccination centre.

Scientists say it will take two weeks to establish how effective jabs are against Omicron, which has twice as many mutations on its spike protein as Delta. The strain is expected to make current vaccines significantly weaker at preventing infections, but it’s less clear how it will impact hospitalisations and deaths.

Even though the vaccines are expected to be much weaker against Omicron, it is hoped that topping up everyone’s immunity to very high levels will offer an extra line of defence against a potential new wave of infections.

Dr Harries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people could do their bit to slow the spread of the virus by reducing the number of social contacts they have.

She said that even if our ‘vaccines appear to be effective, but we find that the variant is more highly transmissible, having lowish grade infection, but in very large numbers of the population, (it) could still be a significant impact on our hospitals’.

She said that ‘our behaviours in winter and particularly around Christmas we tend to socialise more so I think all of those will need to be taken into account’.

British tourists’ ski holiday chaos as Switzerland brings in Covid rules that require TEN-DAY quarantine

Winter holiday plans for thousands of Britons have been thrown into chaos after Switzerland suddenly tightened Covid entry rules over fears of the Omicron variant.

Anyone wanting to travel to the Alpine country from the UK including for onward transit now has to quarantine for 10 days on arrival, even if they have been double-vaccinated, recovered from Covid or tested negative.

The rules will ruin the holiday plans of thousands of Britons who fly to Geneva in order to reach nearby French ski resorts such as Val Thorens, Courchevel, and Meribel – as well as resorts in Switzerland itself.

It comes after France announced it would require a Covid vaccine pass to access ski slopes, causing further difficulties for Britons wanting to travel.

Those hoping to reach the French resorts are now being forced to divert to Lyon, though capacity is far more limited at that airport than Geneva

Anyone unable to get a flight to Lyon faces either a three-hour transfer from Grenoble, or else an eight-hour journey from Calais

Asked about working from home, she said: ‘We’ve seen that not everybody has gone back to work and I’d like to think of it more in a general way, which is if we all decrease our social contacts a little bit, actually that helps to keep the variant at bay.

‘So I think being careful, not socialising when we don’t particularly need to and particularly going and getting those booster jabs which, of course, people will now be able to have at a three-month interval from their primary course.’

Dr Harries said the advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) ‘has shown that if we have significant surges in Covid cases, then actually working from home is one of the key ones to implement and that’s why it is in Plan B’.

She added: ‘But it’s probably worth just thinking through at the moment; although I’m sure we will have more cases announced, we do only have five confirmed cases (of the new Omicron variant in England) and 10 highly probable at the moment.

‘So it’s a very early stage for this, I think, but certainly, if we see surges, then working from home will be a good thing to do.’

Asked for his response to Dr Harries’ socialising comments, Mr Johnson said at lunchtime: ‘I think it is always sensible to be careful, I think what Jenny is saying there is right.

‘We have been living with a pandemic for a long time and people should continue to do things like make sure they have lots of fresh air, they wash their hands and take normal precautions.

‘I think that is entirely reasonable but we are not going to change the overall guidance. We don’t think that is necessary.

‘We don’t see anything to suggest that we need to go for instance to Plan B. But what we do need to do is take particular precautions against Omicron until we have worked out exactly what kind of a threat it may present.

‘But whatever kind of a threat it may present, the crucial thing to do is for everybody to go out and get vaccinated.’

Mr Johnson defended the Government’s Covid rules in a statement issued overnight as he said they are ‘proportionate and responsible’.

‘The measures taking effect today are proportionate and responsible, and will buy us time in the face of this new variant,’ he said.

‘Vaccines and boosters remain our best line of defence, so it is more important than ever that people come forward when eligible to get boosted.’

‘When we have a plan…we’ll contact you’: Health minister tries to calm booster jabs booking scramble

A Health Minister today urged up to 40million Britons now eligible for a booster to be ‘patient’ as they put a plan together with GPs to administer 500,000 jabs a day to outflank the Omicron variant – but the proposal has already hit trouble because doctors insist they have no capacity to do it.

Yesterday’s announcement saw the NHS‘ website crash under the weight of people trying to book an appointment, and the 119 phoneline overwhelmed, leading to Health Minister Gillian Keegan today urging people to wait to be contacted by their GP.

She told Sky News: ‘In the next couple of days we’ll have the plan’, adding the aim is to vaccinate 3.5million people a week – up from 2.5million currently. People will be contacted in five-year age brackets, she said, meaning the 35s to 39 group will be next.

Ms Keegan said the booking of booster jabs for all adults would open in age order and the systems would be up and running ‘in the next couple of days’. People will be called by GP in age order, she said, adding: ‘I think probably what will happen is the next cohort will be invited forward and then they’ll be given, you know, some timeframes.

‘But within the next couple of months… we are pretty good at this, standing up these operations, so we do know what to do but we just need to give the NHS a bit of time to operationalise… because we’re doubling the eligible people, more or less, who are due a booster now.’

Hospitality sector bosses have expressed concerns about the potential impact of the new rules and warned the messaging on socialising will have a ‘damaging effect on businesses’.

Andrew Andrea, boss of pub group Marston’s, said the messaging has been ‘unhelpful’, but said the group had not yet seen customers cancel reservations and Christmas parties.

The travel industry has also expressed concerns about the new restrictions and of the impact the Omicron variant could have on bookings.

EasyJet said today that it has seen signs that demand is softening in its current quarter due to the emergence of the new strain of Covid-19, with winter bookings starting to weaken and some travellers transferring trips to early next year.

But chief executive Johan Lundgren said the impact so far is not on the level seen previously when restrictions were imposed, although he stressed it is ‘too soon to say’ what the ultimate hit will be.

EasyJet said: ‘It’s too soon to say what impact Omicron may have on European travel and any further short-term restrictions that may result. However, we have prepared ourselves for periods of uncertainty such as this.’

The comments came as the company posted statutory pre-tax losses of £1.04 billion for the year to September 30, compared with losses of £1.27 billion the previous year, which was the first full-year loss in its 25-year history.

The Government’s new Covid rules are designed to buy time to allow scientists to analyse the new variant and to determine how effective the current crop of vaccines will be against it.

Professor Paul Moss, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said that scientists are ‘well prepared’ to tweak the vaccines in the event that the Omicron variant evades the protection afforded by the current vaccines.

AstraZeneca on Saturday said it has developed a platform to allow it to ‘quickly respond’ to any emerging variants, including Omicron.

Scottish health authorities announced three more Omicron cases overnight, bringing Scotland’s total to nine spread between Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

The UK’s total is 22, with five further cases found in Nottingham, Brentwood, Camden, Wandsworth and Westminster.

Two Omicron infections have also been identified in Barnet, while there is one in each of Haringey, Liverpool, North Norfolk and Sutton.

Labs across the country are probing hundreds more probable cases and there are signs the strains already spreading in the community.

Number 10 was grilled at a briefing for reporters this morning on Dr Harries’ comments about working from home and socialising.

Asked if she had raised the WFH issue when she addressed a meeting of the Cabinet today, the PM’s Official Spokesman said: ‘That wasn’t something she raised at Cabinet, no. It is not our advice to the public currently.

‘You will know the measures we set out at the weekend. We have Plan B as you say, that is well worked up, those plans can be brought in if required.

‘But currently there is nothing in the data and given what we currently know about this variant and indeed what we do not know we believe our approach as set out at the weekend is the proportionate and responsible one.’

Asked if Dr Harries had raised the socialising issue at Cabinet, the spokesman said: ‘No. Our advice to the public is as set out at the weekend.

‘We have put advice out on face coverings and on inward travellers and those who are identified as having the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

‘Beyond that we haven’t set out any further guidance to the public.’

Speaking earlier about vaccine effectiveness, Dr Harries said it is highly likely that the UK’s vaccination programme will be beneficial in the face of the Omicron variant but experts also expect vaccine effectiveness to be reduced.

She said the current understanding is that the booster will ‘shoot up your immunity levels and so getting that high background level of immunity on a population basis may, to some extent, counter the reduced effectiveness against this particular variant’.

She added that there is a need to ‘be really careful about interpreting the data’ after suggestions from South Africa that the variant is causing mild illness, saying that the UK has an older population, with an average age of 41, compared with 27 in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Mr Khan hinted that face coverings might need to be extended to hospitality settings at a later date if the so-called ‘Omicron’ variant is worse than feared.

In an interview with Sky News this morning, he urged: ‘If you’re in a pub, bar or restaurant, particularly if you’re standing up in one of those bars rather than at a table, and you can’t keep your distance, and you’re not drinking, wear a facemask.’

It comes after Health Minister Gillian Keegan today insisted it is better for the UK to ‘overreact than underreact’ to the new Omicron coronavirus variant after Joe Biden told the US the mutant strain is ‘not a cause for panic’.

Ms Keegan said ministers are trying to strike the right ‘balance’ in the response but she admitted it is a difficult judgment to make because there are many ‘unknowns’ associated with the variant.

All travellers returning to the UK must now take a PCR test on or before day two after their arrival. They can leave isolation once they have a negative test result.

Close contacts of Omicron cases must isolate at home for ten days regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, prompting fears of another ‘pingdemic’.

Ms Keegan insisted ‘Christmas is on track’ amid fears the Omicron variant could result in more people having to self-isolate over the festive period.

Head of Moderna warns ‘it will be MONTHS’ before there is a specific jab to fight Omicron

Covid vaccine maker Moderna warned today that it will take months to develop an Omicron-specific booster jab as Scotland detected three more cases of the mutant strain and Boris Johnson prepares to give an update on the variant at a Downing Street press briefing.

Stephane Bancel, chief executive at Massachusetts-based Moderna, said he expects the highly-evolved coronavirus variant to cause a ‘material drop’ in the effectiveness of existing vaccines, warning that the result was ‘not going to be good’.

He warned that it will take until summer 2022 for Moderna to develop a new vaccine and scale up manufacturing to vaccinate entire populations.

Scientists say it will take two weeks to truly work out how effective jabs are against Omicron, which has twice as many mutations on its spike protein as Delta.

The strain is expected to make current vaccines significantly weaker at preventing infections, but it’s less clear how it will impact hospitalisations and deaths is still unknown.

Last night US President Mr Biden said that ‘this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic’.

His comments prompted scrutiny of the UK’s response, which has seen ministers roll out three main curbs to buy scientists some time as they race to analyse the new variant and assess how effective existing vaccines will be against it.

Ms Keegan was asked during an interview on Sky News if the UK is in danger of overreacting.

She replied: ‘We are trying to get that balance and proportion and it is difficult because it is unknown so we need to buy some time so our scientists can work with the world’s leading scientists to just basically figure out, we know it is very transmissible by looking, but we don’t know whether it’ll work with the vaccine, the vaccine will work, or the other treatments et cetera.

‘So the scientists do need some time for that. We think we have got the balance and the proportional response to it. But we will review it in three weeks, that will give the scientists enough time to hopefully give us some insights then.’

Told that it could subsequently become apparent that the UK has overreacted, Ms Keegan said: ‘I would rather overreact than underreact at this point.

‘I think we have been here so many times that, you know, we have got this fantastic wall of vaccine now, we want to keep that, we want to strengthen it.

‘We would rather be stronger to be able to face any new variants and I think we have all the things, all the capability to do that, so that is what we would rather do.’

The new self-isolation rules for people identified as a close contact of an Omicron case has sparked concerns of a potential ‘pingdemic’ at Christmas, should the variant surge in the UK in the coming weeks.

Told that the restrictions could result in more people being unable to see their family over the Christmas period, Ms Keegan said: ‘Obviously you could be self-isolating over Christmas. You could be. But what we are hoping is we keep these cases, obviously everybody is going to be contacted, people will start the isolation.

‘With or without this you could be isolating for Christmas, with another variant.

Bring the Army back for booster jabs drive: Calls to mobilise soldiers to meet 3.5milllion-a-week target

NHS leaders today demanded the Army be called back in to help administer 500,000 jabs a day and outflank the Omicron variant after GPs warned Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid that some face-to-face appointments with patients will have to go if they are expected to help.

Figures show a third fewer mass vaccination hubs are in operation compared to earlier this year, while overwhelmed NHS staff say they will struggle to help with getting jabs in arms due to winter pressures, with pharmacies picking up most of the slack but only offering appointments in around a month’s time.

Delivering 3.5million jabs per week until February has caused panic in the health service, with two NHS leaders telling the Health Service Journal’s Dave West that ‘the Army should be brought in to help’. Soldiers are currently helping deliver the vaccine in Scotland but not in England.

As well as putting jabs in arms, they also co-ordinated distribution of the vaccines and set up vaccination centres before being largely stood down in the summer.

An average of 2.1million people in England are getting their booster jab per week, meaning all adults won’t be boosted until mid-February if it continues at the current rate.

But ministers are aiming to carry out 500,000 Covid booster jabs a day in an effort to outpace the Omicron variant.

‘Of course Christmas is on track. What everyone wants for Christmas is if you haven’t had your first jab, come and get it, if you haven’t had your second jab, come and get it, and if you haven’t had your booster, come and get it when you are asked.’

Ms Keegan said that Christmas will ‘hopefully not’ be ruined, adding: ‘Let’s be proportional and balanced as we are trying to be, we have got five cases today, that will go up I am pretty sure, but what we are trying to do is really clampdown on that as much as possible.’

Meanwhile, asked about the prospect of Christmas plans being called off, Professor Paul Moss, of the Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the University of Birmingham, told Sky News: ‘I don’t think we need to worry too much about that at this stage… the measures that we got in place have a good chance of gaining some control here.

‘The two ways that we’re adopting to try and control this are: one, in behavioural change to reduce transmission: the travel restrictions; more lateral flows; masking.

‘And the second big factor is the immunity and we know that we may lose some immunity with this virus. So what is happening is we are boosting our immune levels to super-high levels with the plans that were introduced yesterday, and that should retain some protection.

‘What we’ve seen with Covid is that things change very rapidly. And I think we need at least three weeks to assess this.

‘We need excellent epidemiology and within the laboratory people are testing the resistance of the virus against vaccinated samples. So we will need that sort of time. And we will know a lot more before Christmas.’

He added: ‘You probably saw that the doctor in South Africa who initially identified it had seen relatively mild cases, which is very encouraging. However, you know, that’s a much younger population.

‘It’s the elderly population, we need to worry about – in South Africa only six per cent are above 65 years whereas we’ve got a much higher proportion.’

Professor Moss insisted vaccine manufacturers should be able to produce new jabs tailored to the variant quickly.

He said: ‘Well, as you know, the companies have already started — the gene has been cloned, but typically talking around 100 days.

‘We’ve learned so much in the last 18 months — nobody felt we would get a vaccine within a year when the pandemic started, and we did — we got several.

‘So it will be accelerated and, of course, if we were in that severe situation — but I really hope that we won’t get to, by the way — we’re very well prepared. We know what to do.’

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said that the UK had to ‘act immediately and not wait’ after the discovery of the Omicron variant.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘The main question is whether it’s able to evade the immunity that we’ve got to some extent from the vaccine so far and the infections we’ve all had.

‘And so because of that, and because of the possibility of a major wave, the thing to do now is to act immediately and not wait.’

Tube mask crackdown begins: Enforcement officers order commuters to wear face coverings with TfL warning anyone who refuses WILL face £200 fine as retail bosses say staff WON’T be expected to police new rules

By JACK WRIGHT AND VIVEK CHAUDHARY AND DAVID PILDITCH FOR MAILONLINE

New Covid restrictions in England in force today

New restrictions on compulsory facemasks, testing and travel in England were published last night and came into force at 4am this morning.

FACEMASKS

From today, people must wear facemasks in the following places:

Public transport;
Retail shops;
Beauty salons;
Hairdressers;
Banks;
Post offices;
Takeaways;
Estate agents;
Veterinary clinics;
Taxis;
Driving instruction cars.

Those caught flouting the restrictions will be fined £200 for a first offence, which will double on each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £6,400.

Schoolchildren are being asked to wear facemasks in communal areas but not classrooms. Teaching unions have called for masks to be extended to lessons.

TRAVEL

All travellers returning to the UK must take a PCR test and self-isolate for 10 days until they receive a negative result.

Anyone who breaks the self-isolation law without a ‘reasonable excuse’ faces a fine of £1,000, rising to £10,000 for repeat offenders and serious breaches.

A number of countries in Africa were added to the UK’s red list last week. They are:

Angola;
Botswana;
Eswatini;
Lesotho;
Malawi;
Mozambique;
Namibia;
South Africa;
Zambia;
Zimbabwe.

SELF-ISOLATION

All contacts of anybody who tests positive for the so-called ‘Omicron’ variant must self-isolate – regardless of their age or vaccination status.

This has sparked fears of a return to the ‘pingdemic madness’ of the summer, when a million healthy pupils were forced to stay home because of the Test and Trace system.

Anyone who breaks the self-isolation law without a ‘reasonable excuse’ faces a fine of £1,000, rising to £10,000 for repeat offenders and serious breaches.

The crackdown on mask-flouters in London began today as Tube officials threatened to fine non-compliant commuters £200 if they refuse to cover their faces.

Under Covid restrictions which came into force at 4am this morning, facemasks are again compulsory on public transport, in shops and settings such as banks, post offices and hairdressers in England.

Those caught flouting the restrictions will be fined £200 for a first offence, which will double on each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £6,400.

Although many commuters in London wore facemasks on their way to work this morning, many others on packed carriages chose to ignore the law.

Some Transport for London officials were seen rebuking mask-flouters and urging them to cover up as they warned that they would be fined if they were caught breaking the restriction again.

Writing on Twitter, TfL said: ‘You must wear a face covering on all our services unless exempt. Our officers will continue enforcing the requirement, including reintroduction of powers for TfL and police to issue £200 fines for first offence.’

Scenes of non-compliance had sparked calls for tougher enforcement of the rules, as Unite’s national officer for passenger transport Bobby Morton said ‘people are not going to wear masks now just because Boris Johnson says it’s the right thing to do’.

The Mayor of London also told people to wear facemasks on public transport, and called on the Prime Minister to keep the restriction in place possibly past December 21 – when the new rules will be reviewed – in case the new Covid variant is worse than feared.

However, passengers at London Bridge Station insisted that offenders were not being challenged by police or enforcement officers.

Mark Briggs, 53, who works as a facilities manager, said: ‘I didn’t see much difference today. There are still a lot of people who are not wearing masks.

‘I would say about 60 per cent of people have been covering their faces. I come in about three days a the week and it has been like that for a while. I didn’t see anyone enforcing it. I have never seen that. It is mentioned on the tannoys but that is it.

‘I prefer to get an earlier train like I did today because it is quieter. I have seen some people say, ”Please don’t sit next to me unless you have got a mask on”. I thought he was right. It is a bit embarrassing when that happens and most people just keep their head down rather than make a fuss.’

And retail leaders said businesses are refusing to enforce the rules because they fear that their staff will be accosted by customers. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, stressed that it is the role of the authorities to enforce these new regulations, adding that customers also have responsibility to adhere to the rules.

‘Retailers will be communicating the new rules on face coverings in England through in-store signage and other channels,’ she said.

‘However, it is vital that we do not place hardworking retail staff in harm’s way, and enforcement of face coverings must remain the duty of the authorities. Furthermore, we all have an individual responsibility to put on a face covering before entering a shop.’

It is the latest challenge for retailers ahead of a key Christmas period. They have already seen pressure from supply chain disruption and labour shortages.

Meanwhile, Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland grocery chain, said he will not be asking staff to police the mask rules among customers.

‘The first thing to say is that of course we support the reintroduction of compulsory face masks in shops and there is no doubt that the emergence of this Omicron variant is really concerning,’ he told Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘Safety of staff and customers is of course a priority. But the question isn’t whether or not we should mandate facemasks, but whether we can mandate them. What I won’t be doing is asking my store colleagues to police those who refuse to adhere to the rules. They are already working under significant pressure, particularly as we hit the busiest trading month of the year.’

The Unite trade union also called for facemasks to also become mandatory in pubs, cafes and restaurants after they were not included in the rule change.

Transport for London officials rebuked a commuter at Victoria Station in London for not wearing a facemask

One commuter is seen not wearing a facemask on the Victoria Line as new restrictions come into force today

Hundreds of commuters, some not wearing masks, disembarked trains at London’s Kings Cross Station today

Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid try to quell hospitality fears over limiting socialising

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