THE Prime Minister has insisted extra measures are not needed in the fight against Covid as he visted Hexham General Hospital today (Monday).

Boris Johnson said Plan B was not required as he visited Hexham after £284m investment was announced for the NHS which will see technology modernise diagnostics and help tackle patient waiting lists over the next year.

The PM saw the hospital's new CT scanner and met staff receiving their booster jab.

“The data we see nationally doesn’t lead us to think that we need to go into extra measures, go into plan B, but we do need to take all the steps that we can to protect ourselves", said Boris Johnson. 

It comes as coronavirus safety measures have been reintroduced to some Northumberland schools amid a backdrop of rising infection rates.

He added: “What you’ve seen over the last few months, is quite a big outbreak in the kids, who are much less vulnerable to the disease, and that has spread to their parents. On the whole, it hasn’t really hit the older generation as much as it did last time.

“That’s why the booster is so important because it gives you a lot more protection, 95 per cent more."

Ponteland High School has returned to measures such as the wearing of face coverings in communal areas and when moving from lesson to lesson, suspending year group assemblies, moving all information events and parents' evenings online, and reviewing whether planned trips and visits should proceed. Measures such as a one-way system and staggered lunch time arrangements were already in place.

Pupils and staff at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham are also required to wear a face covering in communal areas, unless they are exempt.

The PM's visit comes as an emergency sleaze debate has been called. He said there was 'not much more to say' about the Owen Paterson case.