The U.K. Government has confirmed the arrival of “plan B” restrictions in England, which include proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test for entry into indoor venues with large crowds.

In a press conference today, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that beginning Friday, facemasks will be required for public indoor venues, including theaters, and that beginning Monday, people must work from home.

Proof of vaccination or negative test, which must be shown via the NHS COVID pass, is mandatory for entry into nightclubs and venues, including unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, seated outdoor venues with more than 4k people and any venue with more than 10k people.

The restrictions have been announced due to rising COVID-19 cases and the threat of the omicron variant. As of today, the daily number of people who have tested positive in the U.K. is just over 51k, according to government data. Over the last seven days, cases have risen 11.3% to nearly 340k. Hospital admissions are up 0.8% to 5.3k over the last seven days and 81.1% of the population is double vaccinated.

Mark Davyd, CEO, Music Venue Trust, said, “Whilst this is obviously a blow to the progress in the battle against the virus, we are pleased that the government has listened to the grassroots music venue sector and adopted a COVID Pass policy that recognizes testing. MVT’s #TakeaTest policy has been extremely successful in limiting infection incidents in grassroots music venues, and we welcome the news that this has been recognized in the new policy.”