THE shift to the coronavirus Plan B is an attempt to “buy time” to avoid the threat of a million Omicron infections by the end of the year, Sajid Javid said as he fought back against Tory anger over the measures.

The Health Secretary and Bromsgrove MP defended the sudden shift in the Government’s approach to tackling the virus in England, with an extension of mask-wearing from Friday, a return to working from home on Monday and mandatory Covid passports for large venues from Wednesday.

Mr Javid acknowledged the decisions will have a “real impact on our liberties” but insisted that taking action now is the only way to avoid having to impose tougher measures later.

He faced a barrage of Tory criticism when he announced the measures in the Commons at the same time as Boris Johnson addressed the nation on Wednesday.

Conservative anger has been fuelled by suspicions the new measures were introduced as an attempt to distract from the Prime Minister’s troubles over an alleged staff party in Downing Street during last December’s lockdown.

Mr Javid insisted the measures are necessary to “build our collective defences” through the vaccination programme in the face of the rapidly-spreading Omicron.

With a doubling rate of two-and-a-half to three days, Mr Javid told Sky News: “It would mean, at that rate, by the end of this month we could hit about one million infections in the community throughout the UK.

“We’ve always been clear that should the data change and should it move in the wrong direction and it looked like the NHS might come under unsustainable pressure – remember what that would mean, we wouldn’t be able to get the emergency care not just for Covid but for a car accident, or anything like that – we would act and implement Plan B.

“I don’t enjoy doing that, no-one does – it is a very difficult thing for many people, asking them to work from home or wearing face masks and things, it is a real impact on our liberties.

“But I hope that people will understand that by taking decisive action now, we can potentially avoid action later.”

The new regulations will be put to a debate and vote in the Commons next week and with Labour’s support they are certain to be approved, despite the prospect of a large Conservative revolt.

The Plan B measures will be reviewed on January 5, before their expiry date of January 26.