NEW Covid restrictions look set to come into place over the Christmas period - will you abide by rules to stop the spread of Omicron?

Yesterday, Boris Johnson urged caution amid speculation that further measures will be introduced to halt the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Prime Minister promised to keep the data under constant review as the Queen abandoned her Christmas at Sandringham and London mayor Sadiq Khan cancelled the capital’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.

After a special two-hour meeting of the cabinet on Monday, the Prime Minister said the government needs to be clearer about the rate of hospital admissions associated with Omicron, and the effectiveness of vaccines against it, before imposing additional measures in England to prevent the spread of the virus.

However Boris Johnson said the government will “reserve the possibility” of implementing new restrictions, causing opposition politicians to accuse him of lacking a clear plan.

The Financial Times reported a senior government insider saying: “We are not planning to introduce new restrictions this side of Christmas”.

But although Mr Johnson stopped short of imposing new official restrictions, the Prime Minister said the government wants people to focus on “exercising caution”.

The Queen has now decided to spend Christmas in Windsor rather than to travel to Sandringham in what one royal source said was a precautionary approach.

And London Mayor Sadiq Khan later announced the cancellation of the capital’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Trafalgar Square “in the interests of public safety”.

Government sources reported by The Times said the focus would be on restrictions after Christmas, with a two-week “circuit breaker” banning household mixing being considered for December 28.

The Prime Minister said the arguments for taking action in response to Omicron were “very, very finely balanced” and that the government is keeping the data under “constant review”.

He said there were still “uncertainties” around the severity of the new strain, as well as the rate of hospital admissions associated with it, and its impact on the effectiveness of the vaccines.

“There are still some things that we need to be clearer about before we decide to go further,” he said.

Mr Johnson added: “Unfortunately I must say to people that we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public, to protect public health, to protect our NHS.

“We are looking at all kinds of things to keep Omicron under control and we will rule nothing out.

“But at the moment, what I think we want people to focus on is exercising caution – so ventilation, masks in the appropriate places, all the usual stuff about washing hands, but remember how contagious Omicron really is.”