The Government has announced this lunchtime that Plan B measures will be scrapped in England next Thursday.

This means that COVID passports and mandatory wearing of face-masks as well as the current work from home guidance will be scrapped on Thursday 27th January.

The Prime Minister also announced that from tomorrow, face masks will no longer need to be worn in classrooms.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Omicron cases appeared to have peaked nationally and that due to this, rules could now be scrapped.

Overall in the United Kingdom, a total of 673,987 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the past seven days. This is a 38.9% on the previous seven days. Hospitalisations are also beginning to fall, indicating that a reduction of cases is having a positive impact and that hopefully in the coming weeks, the intense pressure on the NHS should start to ease.