UK's Johnson puts England under new COVID controls

LONDON - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he was starting a so-called Plan B for England, including guidance for people to work from home, to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

"While the picture may get better, and I sincerely hope that it will, we know that the remorseless logic of exponential growth could lead to a big rise in hospitalizations and therefore, sadly, in deaths, and that's why it's now the proportionate and the responsible thing to move to Plan B in England," Johnson told a news conference.