Annabel Denham, Director of Communications at the IEA, has penned an article for The Specator on the economic impact of the latest bout of Coronavirus restrictions introduced to combat the Omicron variant.

Annabel highlights a number of areas which are likely to be affected by the government’s measures and argues that at some point, the detrimental economic impact of these rules must take precedence over the government’s need demonstrate action at the first hint of crisis.

“the major economic threat stems from the tightening of self-isolation rules for contacts of those testing positive for Omicron (ten days, regardless of vaccination status) and the fear that this will trigger another ‘pingdemic’. The one in July probably shaved 0.5 per cent off GDP that month, and the impact now could be even greater, given it’s school term time and labour shortages are worsening.”

“We can expect the travel industry, which was already in a critical condition after nearly two years of disruption, to take a big hit. The value of IAG, which owns British Airways, fell by nearly 15 per cent on Friday.”

Read the full article here.