Boris Johnson says he cannot rule out another future lockdown

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The Prime Minister has warned that another lockdown isn't out of the question if a new and deadly variant of coronavirus appears.

It comes after the emergence of the new Omicron XE variant which has caused nearly 1,000 infections in the UK so far. According to the Office for National Statistics, 4.9 million people in the UK were infected with Covid-19 as of last weekend, reaching record-high levels during the pandemic.

According to a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), XE is a combination of the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains and was first detected in the UK on January 19 with early tests suggesting it's highly transmissible.

The UK Health Security Agency added on Monday that the most recent data showed the new variant had a growth rate of 9.8 per cent above BA.2. Read more: Boris Johnson to hold press conference this afternoon Now, the Prime Minister has suggested that the country could still go into lockdown, despite implementing a new 'Living With Covid' plan.