A COVID “plan C” has been proposed, according to a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) science chief.

Last week, health minister Edward Argar said he was not aware of such a plan, which was reported to involve a ban on households mixing.

There has been pressure for the government to move from the current level of COVID controls to “plan B”, which involves working from home and mask-wearing in enclosed spaces.

And speaking in front of a parliamentary committee, Professor Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser at the DHSC, was asked about the plans.

“[Plan C] has been proposed – the name has been mentioned,” she said.

“It is not being extensively worked up – people have used the phrase.”

The revelation came following a question from Rebecca Long-Bailey – to which Prof Chapelle said that “plan A and plan B and whatever the plan C looks like” are not mutually exclusive.

Asked further by the Science and Technology Committee’s chair, Greg Clark, about the matter, Prof Chappell said “at the moment the focus is on plan B”.

Asked if they were aware of preparations beyond plan B, Dr Thomas Waite, the interim deputy chief medical officer at the DHSC said he had not been consulted on the matter of Plan C, and Prof Chapell shook her said and said no.

Sky News has approached the DHSC for comment.

On Thursday last week, Mr Argar was asked by Sky News’ Kay Burley about reports that “plan C” would involve a ban on different households mixing.

The minister said: “Of course as a government, as we’ve done with plan B, we look at alternatives and ways that you might, if you needed to, start easing that pressure [on the NHS] but the specifics that are mooted in it, about limiting household mixing, about going back, is that it isn’t something that’s being actively considered.

“There is no intention to reinvent lockdown, one of the reasons we did it last year is we didn’t have the vaccine and earlier this year it was still being rolled out.

“We also didn’t have these treatments – remdesivir and these treatments we announced yesterday – which prevent people going into hospital, so that’s what’s changed.”

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While the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus has been trending upwards in the past days and weeks, some modelling suggests cases could fall next month.

Last week, the R number for England rose to between 1.0 and 1.2 – meaning for every 10 people with the virus, another 10 to 12 people get infected.

Analysis by Mark Thompson, specialist health producer

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