Britain gave the impression to be in a self-imposed lockdown this morning with roads barely busier than the identical day final 12 months - when the third nationwide lockdown got here into drive - regardless of at the moment being the primary working day of 2022.
Street congestion in London was at 22 per cent between 8am and 9am this morning in response to TomTom, which was solely barely greater than January 4, 2021 when the determine for a similar time interval was 19 per cent.
Main railway stations within the capital together with Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge seemed very quiet whereas there have been additionally few commuters to be seen on many Underground trains throughout the morning rush hour.
It comes as stress mounted on the Authorities to permit the thousands and thousands of people that have caught the milder however extra contagious Omicron variant to get again to work extra rapidly and so maintain important companies going.
A transfer requiring individuals to remain indoors for 5 days has now been adopted by the US, Greece and France - and an knowledgeable from King's School London has now stated this could possibly be mirrored in Britain too, as a result of the info is suggesting instances have been now falling in London whereas there had been no latest surge in deaths as predicted.
Additionally at the moment Professor Neil Ferguson stated he believes that instances could possibly be beginning to plateau in London - the primary a part of Britain to fall sufferer to the variant, which a plethora of research have proven is milder than earlier strains.
Many workers are following Authorities steerage to earn a living from home if doable, and the low variety of commuters has been exacerbated by practically 1.2million individuals testing constructive for Covid-19 over the previous week.
It comes one 12 months to the day that Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered individuals to 'keep at dwelling' as he formally put England into its third lockdown after weeks of powerful Tier 4 restrictions for a lot of areas together with the capital.
In the meantime rail passengers have been hit by disruption on the primary working day of the 12 months in England and Wales at the moment resulting from a mixture of faults and Covid-related employees shortages as individuals returned to the workplace.
And youngsters returning to highschool risked being turned away on the gates if their academics take a look at constructive for the virus, with headteachers fearing as much as 1 / 4 of their employees could possibly be struck down within the coming weeks.
Workers returning to the workplace have additionally been warned of last-minute rail cancellations, and companies stated they could must shut their doorways or function shorter hours resulting from so many employees being in quarantine.
NHS bosses stated for a lot of hospitals the most important problem was 'rising staff absences', somewhat than the variety of sufferers with Covid. Newest knowledge confirmed 1,189,985 individuals examined constructive for Covid within the seven days to yesterday.
Additionally at the moment, no London Overground trains might run between Clapham Junction and Surrey Quays resulting from a prepare fault, whereas Merseyrail companies have been suspended between Kirkdale and Kirkby following an influence provide downside.
And a 'downside underneath investigation' between Darlington and York was inflicting disruption between the 2 stations, which was affecting CrossCountry, London North Japanese Railway and TransPennine Categorical companies.
Elsewhere pressing repairs have been carried out to exchange a part of the signalling system at Slade Inexperienced in South East London after {an electrical} fault, that means the road in direction of Dartford was blocked, affecting Southeastern trains.
Community Rail despatched technicians to Lewisham to repair a brand new set of factors which 'labored effective all night time in testing and naturally has gone fallacious now'. It brought about disruption to Southeastern on one of many primary traces into the capital.
In the meantime street congestion ranges in London have been at 22 per cent within the 8am to 9am slot this morning in response to TomTom, which was the very best determine for that point interval since Friday, December 17 when it was at 41 per cent.
Nevertheless, the extent is considerably down from Monday, December 13 - the primary day when working from dwelling steerage was reintroduced - which noticed a degree of 60 per cent, nearly thrice greater than at the moment.
As of 9am at the moment, there have been 96 jams protecting a complete of 25 miles. The congestion degree at the moment was additionally lower than a 3rd of the 2019 common (67 per cent) and fewer than half of the 2020 common (53 per cent) for the time of day.
Rail journeys throughout Britain have been additionally being hit by many operators utilizing lowered timetables in a bid to enhance reliability after weeks of short-notice cancellations resulting from employees shortages attributable to the coronavirus pandemic.
ScotRail applied a brief weekday timetable yesterday because the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has resulted in a 'giant variety of absences'.
Greater than 150 every day companies have been minimize, together with on routes equivalent to Glasgow to Edinburgh by way of Airdrie/Bathgate; Glasgow Central to Lanark; Edinburgh to North Berwick; and Edinburgh to Tweedbank.
Different examples embrace Southern not serving London Victoria till January 10, whereas CrossCountry has eliminated round 50 every day trains from its timetables till subsequent week.
Demand for rail journey is at round 50 per cent of pre-pandemic ranges, which is partly as a result of steerage for individuals to earn a living from home. The primary working day of the 12 months in Scotland is tomorrow.
It comes as Boris Johnson claimed yesterday that chopping isolation instances additional for individuals with Covid would worsen the staffing disaster gripping Britain.
The Prime Minister resisted mounting stress to permit the large numbers of people that have caught the delicate Omicron variant to get again to work extra rapidly and so maintain important companies going.
He stated solely requiring individuals to remain indoors for 5 days - a transfer now adopted by the US, Greece and France - would the truth is imply extra workers going off sick, as they risked catching Covid from somebody who had rushed again to the workplace whereas nonetheless infectious.
Mr Johnson stated yesterday: 'We'll proceed to take a look at the infectivity durations. However the important thing factor is we do not wish to be releasing individuals again into the office once they're nonetheless infectious.
'And the chance is you enhance the numbers of individuals going again into the office are infectious by an element of three. So that you would possibly perversely have a adverse impact on the workforce.'
He additionally claimed that the present seven-day isolation interval in England, Wales and Northern Eire is 'very shut' to 5 days in any case as a result of individuals can go away their houses 'only one minute previous midnight on the day that you simply take a look at adverse'.
Professor Tim Spector, who leads King's School London's Zoe Covid signs research, stated final night time that the quarantine restrict might safely be lowered as the info instructed instances have been now falling in London whereas there had been no latest surge in deaths as predicted.
'The well being disaster is at risk of being pushed by employees issues resulting from over-cautious isolation guidelines. Let's scale back this to 5 days,' he stated.
Specialists claimed that chopping the isolation interval to 5 days would save the UK economic system £300million this month.
The Centre for Economics and Enterprise Analysis estimated that the present guidelines will value the nation £1billion, equal to 0.5 per cent of month-to-month GDP.
In addition to serving to main public sector employers such because the NHS, which had nearly one in ten workers off sick on New Yr's Eve, the change to 5 days would additionally enhance hospitality companies who've misplaced out on gross sales over Christmas and in some instances have needed to shut their doorways as a result of they're so short-staffed.
The results of the 'isolation nation' continued to be felt yesterday with garbage going uncollected, large disruption to coach companies and a dire warning of the looming affect on aged care.
James Jamieson, chairman of the Native Authorities Affiliation, informed BBC Radio 4's At this time programme: 'There are present pressures that have been already there earlier than Christmas - bins, resulting from a scarcity of HGV drivers, that is definitely been an space of stress.
'However our largest concern is social care, as a result of not solely will we doubtlessly see loads extra employees absences, we're really going to see extra demand because the NHS seeks to discharge extra individuals to hospital.'