New Covid restrictions could be needed if infections continue to soar after yesterday’s highest daily total since July.
The 49,156 new cases raised the spectre of indoor face masks, Covid passports becoming mandatory at large events and working from home rules returning.
The measures are a part of Boris Johnson’s Plan B, which the government has ruled out introducing imminently.
But he admitted the winter months ahead will be ‘challenging’.
Scientists said it is ‘critical’ the rollout of booster jabs is accelerated after projections that immunity against the virus may be waning.
Plan A puts the vaccination drive as the first line of defence, with the prime minister saying unvaccinated Brits are up to nine times more likely to die, depending on their age, than if they have had both jabs.
The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘There is absolutely no plan to introduce Plan B currently. We retain that capability if required if we believe the NHS is coming under unsustainable pressure.
‘We obviously keep very close watch on the latest statistics. We always knew the coming months would be challenging.’
Analysis shows only 3.7 million of the 8.5 million people deemed clinically vulnerable who were double jabbed more than six months ago have received a booster.
It leaves more than half of them (4.8 million) with potentially weakened immunity against coronavirus.
As many as 22 million people will be ready for their third jab by mid-December, but on the current trajectory some will be waiting until the end of January for theirs.
Professor Neil Ferguson, whose data was instrumental in bringing about the first lockdown in March last year, listed two reasons why Brits may be more exposed to Covid this winter than nearby Western European countries.
He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: ‘Partly, we were very successful in getting vaccination rolled out early and we know that gradually immunity wanes over time after you’ve had that second dose, so how early we were means we are a bit more vulnerable.
‘Second, we relied more on the AstraZeneca vaccine and, while that protects very well against very severe outcomes of Covid, it protects slightly less well than Pfizer against infection and transmission, particularly in the face of the Delta variant.’
Professor Ferguson added that Covid booster jabs were ‘absolutely’ the answer to waning immunity.
He said: ‘I do think it’s critical we accelerate the booster programme.
‘The other thing is infection rates are highest in teenagers at the moment and most other European countries are ahead of us in vaccinating teenagers and giving them two doses, not just one dose.’
MORE : Everything we know about Boris Johnson’s Covid winter plan
MORE : UK records nearly 50,000 new Covid cases as expert warns immunity is waning
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