The prime minister is planning to tell Brits no more coronavirus rules are to be put in place over Christmas, according to sources.

Boris Johnson reintroduced mask-wearing mandates and requirements for travellers to use PCR tests over a week ago, after South African scientists discovered the new Omicron variant.

The next briefing on restrictions is set to take place on December 18 – allowing experts three weeks to analyse the dangers of the mutant strain.

But Cabinet insiders quoted by The Sun said Mr Johnson plans to bring this announcement forward a few days earlier, to confirm the country can continue with its Christmas plans with no further constraints.

This decision is reportedly because ministers are ‘gripped with a united fear the public would never forgive them if they ruin Christmas for the second year running’.

Another government source went on to say: ‘The hope is we won’t have to introduce anything new, and the current measures — testing at the border and mask-wearing — are not too much of an impingement.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Downing Street for comment.

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Early evidence suggests Omicron may be a more infectious but milder variant of coronavirus.

Indeed the South African doctor who unearthed the strain, Dr Angelique Coetzee, previously told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show the infected people she had treated had ‘extremely mild’ symptoms.

She went on to say the UK was ‘panicking unnecessarily’ and said the country has probably had the variant circulating without experts realising it.

But it is still early days and many doctors believe the world does not have enough data on Omicron to know for sure.

Moderna’s chief medical officer Dr Paul Burton said: ‘Until we see how this virus now behaves in populations of older people, people with other comorbidities.

‘We really want to get a handle on exactly how severe the disease could be.’

But he did go on to say he was ‘optimistic’ about fighting the strain because of how much the world has learnt about the disease in the last two years.

Some 43,992 people in the UK tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the country’s total to 10,464,389. Of these cases, 246 are confirmed to have the Omicron mutation.

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The Government however seems to be sticking to its policy of determining Covid-19 restrictions based on hospitalisations and deaths.

On the most recent date for which official data is available – November 30 – there were 812 coronavirus patients admitted to hospital.

Whilst several days in the last few months have seen this number hit more than 1,000, the figure has fluctuated between 700 and 900 since around mid-July.

Imperial College London’s Professor Neil Ferguson, who helped model the first coronavirus lockdown, estimates daily hospital admissions would have to rise to more than 1,200 for the Government to curb freedoms more and trigger Plan B.

This is despite the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) pushing ministers to bring back instructions to work from home and to implement vaccine passport systems.

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