Last month, England switched to “Plan B” to cope with what Johnson called a “tidal wave” of expected infections from the Omicron variant. But he had to fight his own party to get the changes into law, as Conservative colleagues called the restrictions a step too far and a curb to public freedoms.

UK PM Johnson resists lockdown as Omicron fuels record 218,000 daily cases

The relaxing of restrictions have been seen as a concession to critics angry at revelations that he and his staff broke Covid-19 lockdown rules by holding parties at Downing Street.

Johnson told MPs: “While there are some places where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary schools, our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally.”

Secondary school pupils will no longer be required to wear face masks from Thursday, Johnson said, calling for a review of self-isolation rules to be brought forward from March 24.

Germany tops 100,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time, surge in fake vaccine certificates

Germany has topped 100,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time since the pandemic began as the Omicron variant races through the country’s population.

Wednesday figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the national disease control agency, showed 112,323 cases had been registered in 24 hours.

On Friday, the daily figures passed the 90,000-mark for the first time, and a week ago there were 80,430 new cases detected.

The seven-day incidence of infections per 100,000 people was at 584.4 on Wednesday, compared to 553.2 the day before and 407.5 a week earlier.

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The head of the RKI, Lothar Wieler, spoke recently of a “new phase” of the pandemic as infections soar. At present, comparatively few older people – who are particularly susceptible to severe cases of Covid-19 – are infected.

The incidence among 5- to 14-year-olds is now around 10 times higher than among older people and has more than doubled within a week. Deaths seem to be on a downward trend: across Germany, 239 deaths with or from Covid-19 were recorded in the latest 24-hour period, compared to 384 a week earlier.

The now crucial measure of hospitalisations showed that there were 3.17 hospitalisations per 100,000 people over the past week – far from pandemic highs.

Figures obtained from the country’s 16 states show more than 12,000 police investigations have been opened nationwide.

The number of probes surged in December, after authorities announced new restrictions that largely locked unvaccinated people out of public life.

Those who supply or use fake certificates could face severe penalties, from fines and suspended prison sentences to losing their jobs.

Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation in one case after a woman used a fake vaccine certificate to continue working at a nursing home, despite having family members ill with Covid-19 at home.

White House to distribute 400 million free masks, starting next week

The Biden administration plans to distribute 400 million high-quality masks available to Americans for free starting next week in the hopes of offering better protection against the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The White House announced Wednesday that the N95 masks will be available for pickup at pharmacies and community health centres across the country. The administration will begin shipping masks at the end of this week, the White House said.

This will be the largest allocation of free masks by the federal government since the Covid-19 pandemic began.