More than one in six NHS trusts across England have declared a critical incident due to Covid pressures, with the Omicron variant putting ‘very real’ pressure on the health service.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that, of England’s 137 NHS trusts, at least 24 have declared a critical incident, meaning they have reached an alert level signalling priority services may be under threat. Shapps said that ministers were trying to find the right compromise between imposing further restrictions and not allowing hospitals to be ‘overrun’ given new cases of the virus have reached historically high levels.

Speaking to Sky News, Shapps said that it was ‘not entirely unusual’ for NHS trusts to go critical over the winter and defended the government against criticism that England is out of step with the three other UK nations, which all imposed tougher restrictions in the light of the more transmissible variant.

He said that Plan B, which came into force last month across England with a return to work-from-home advice, face coverings and the introduction of Covid passes, was still the right way forward.