As it happened: Javid does not rule out more Covid measures - BBC News
The health secretary says there are "no guarantees" in the pandemic when asked if he was ruling out new restrictions before Christmas.
Introducing restrictions buys time, but it does not solve the problem.

The risk is you just delay the inevitable because you get a rebound in infections once they are lifted.

So the question that has to be asked is, what will be done with the time that a short circuit breaker would provide if it was introduced.

It would certainly allow more boosters to be given. But more than 80% of the most vulnerable have already been boosted, so the gains from that are nowhere near what they were for last winter’s lockdown when the vaccine programme was in its infancy.

If admissions were to rise as quickly as some of the most pessimistic modelling suggests, restrictions could stop the NHS being overwhelmed by flattening the peak.

This perhaps remains the strongest argument in favour of a circuit breaker given the uncertainty for the moment over how much serious illness will be caused by this Omicron wave.

And all of that, of course, needs to be weighed against the costs to society, the economy and wider mental health.

You can read more from Nick on what tougher measures will achieve, here.