Reintroduce furlough following Javid Omicron warning and Sturgeon socialising limits

As Health Secretary Sajid Javid today announced that new Omicron infections in the UK are running at 200,000 a day, TSSA called on the British government to reinstate the furlough scheme.

Javid's figure comes from an estimate by the UK Health Security Agency. In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon advised Scots to limit socialising to members of just three households amidst rising cases of the Omicron variant

Manuel Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said, “We know that Omicron has a higher attack rate than any previous variant of Covid-19. It will soon be the dominant form across Britain, putting essential services at risk, and straining our NHS.

"Hundreds of ScotRail trains have been cancelled due to illness. We need to take action now to break the chains of transmission.

“It’s essential that the Westminster government acts now and reintroduces the furlough job retention scheme to save jobs and support businesses whose staff can’t work from home, before our NHS is overwhelmed.”