Covid: Johnson hopes to ‘ride out Omicron’ without another lockdown

Schools are short of teachers, supermarkets are struggling to find staff, trains are cancelled and hospitals are declaring critical incidents.

The government’s answer? Delivering a 100,000 lateral flow tests a day for key workers – as Boris Johnson says England would try to “ride out” the wave of Omicron infections without tougher new measures.

But he warned that “anyone who thinks our battle with Covid is over is profoundly wrong”.