Boris Johnson has denied he is imposing lockdown “by stealth” after Tory MPs vented anger at advice to cut socialising during the Christmas period.
The prime minister said the situation this Christmas was “very different” to last year.
However he warned that people should “think carefully” about who they mix with during the festive period, prompting criticism that he was effectively cutting custom for businesses up and down the country.
Asked whether Johnson had ordered another lockdown “by stealth”, he replied: “What we have is the additional protection of the vaccines, and the ability to test.
“So if you want to do something, if you want to go to an event or a party, then the sensible thing to do, if that’s a priority, the sensible thing to do is to get a test and to make sure that you’re being cautious.
“But we’re not saying that we want to cancel stuff, we’re not locking stuff down, and the fastest route back to normality is to get boosted.”
Johnson is facing anger from his own side after holding a press conference with the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, in which he urged people to be cautious about mixing with others over the festive period — but stopped short of imposing further rules.
And Whitty told the briefing: “There are several things we don’t know about Omicron, but all the things we do know are bad.
“I think that what most people are doing is, and I would think this seems very sensible, is prioritising the social interactions that really matter to them and, to protect those ones, de-prioritising ones that matter much less to them,” he said.
“I think that’s going to become increasingly important as we, for example, go into the Christmas period.”
Earlier in the Commons, Tory MP Steve Brine said medical advisers were “running the show” when it came to Covid policy.
He claimed Whitty “at a stroke...changed government policy and put this country, certainly hospitality… into effective lockdown”.
Meanwhile, Joy Morrissey, the MP for Beaconsfied, was told to be apologise for suggesting he should “defer” to elected politicians and the prime minister.
In a now-deleted tweet, Morrissey wrote: “Perhaps the unelected covid public health spokesperson should defer to what our ELECTED Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister have decided.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Morrissey should apologise for “attacking the chief medical officer in this way”.
The warnings around reduced socialising has triggered fears that pubs, bars and restaurants could suffer huge losses if people choose to voluntarily stay away.
Torsten Bell, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation economics think-tank, said: “If you’re telling people to avoid hospitality, it doesn’t matter if you’re not banning them from doing so: restaurants, pubs, bars are going to get stuffed. They’ll lose customers and workers will lose their jobs.”
Downing Street later said that chancellor Rishi Sunak would hold talks with representatives of the hospitality sector over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Sunak – who is currently in California – and Treasury chief secretary Simon Clarke would be speaking to about a dozen representatives from the sector later on Thursday.
“We are listening to what those businesses particularly affected have to say. There is already significant support in place until spring next year,” the spokesman said.
“We will continue to respond proportionately to the changing path of the virus as we have done since the start of the pandemic.”