Boris Johnson grilled on 'ridiculous' defence of May party

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According to a recent report, Mr Johnson, 57, will take the final call after carefully observing COVID-19 data on Wednesday morning. The Plan B restrictions include guidance to work from home, Covid passes and mandatory mask wearing in shops and on public transport.

The Government had introduced the restrictions before Christmas when Britain was witnessing a steep rise in the number of Omicron cases.

The restrictions are set to expire on January 26.

According to reports, the PM may choose to scrap work from home guidance and Covid passes, however, he may request people to continue wearing masks in public places.

A Government spokesperson told Sky News: “Decisions on the next steps remain finely balanced.

“Plan B was implemented in December to slow the rapid spread of the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, and get more jabs in arms.

“It’s thanks to the phenomenal efforts of the NHS and many dedicated volunteers that we have now delivered over 36 million boosters to people across the UK.

“The Omicron variant continues to pose a significant threat and the pandemic is not over.

“Infections remain high but the latest data is encouraging, with cases beginning to fall.

“Vaccines remain our best line of defence and we urge people to come forward, to give themselves the best possible protection.”

Asked on Tuesday if restrictions would be lifted next week, Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to be careful about COVID. We’ve got to continue to remember that it’s a threat.”

While England is all set to take a call on lifting the restrictions, Scotland will be doing so from the coming week. Reports suggest that Scotland will remove all of its Omicron coronavirus restrictions from next Monday.

The changes will see nightclubs reopen, the requirement for table service in hospitality come to an end and attendance limits on indoor events lifted.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs that same day that he was “cautiously optimistic that we will be able to substantially reduce restrictions next week”.

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The latest data suggests that there were 19,450 people in hospital with COVID-19 as of 17 January, a drop of 2% week-on-week.

Mr Johnson’s latest announcement will come as he continues to reject accusations that he lied to Parliament over allegations of Covid rule-breaking parties in Downing Street, according to The Telegraph.

The PM denied allegations by Dominic Cummings that he had misled the Common and said that “nobody told me that what we were doing was against the rules”.

Mr Johnson has been put in a spot after a news report claimed that advisers and officials from Downing Street partied a night before the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021.

The PM has since apologised to the Queen following the reports.

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