The Prime Minister has been accused of letting Covid "spread like wildfire" in a bid to win political points after he announced the easing of Plan B Covid-19 restrictions.
On Wednesday, amid a shock defection and calls to resign from his own colleague s, Boris Johnson said measures including working from home and compulsory face masks would be dropped from January 27.
But with coronavirus rates in the North East much higher than they were when the measures were first introduced, some North East MPs say they're "concerned" about the move.
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Most local authorities in the region have seen case rates triple since December 9, the day the Prime Minister announced the move to working from home and compulsory mask-wearing - and it's even higher than that in some places.
In Sunderland, the Covid-19 case rate on December 9 was 299.4 cases per 100,000 people - by January 13, the rate in the city was 1,795.6 - slightly under six times higher than when the new rules were announced.
One of the area's MPs, Sharon Hodgson, who represents Washington and Sunderland West, said: "Nobody wants restrictions to go on longer than they have to, but as case rates remain sky high that means more people have to self-isolate, are unable to go to work and children miss out on school.
"I worry that while the Prime Minister has said we need to live with Covid, there are no plans in place for how to go about doing that, rendering it an empty slogan."
In South Tyneside, home of the constituency of Jarrow Labour MP Kate Osborne, rates have risen more than fivefold, from 303.7 to 1,794.4 per 100,000.
The MP accused the Prime Minister of making a "reckless" change to "distract from his abysmal leadership".
She said: "With Covid rates soaring in the North East, I have some concerns over the government’s plan to ease these temporary restrictions at this time.
"I am particularly concerned for clinically vulnerable people across our communities who will become even more at risk if restrictions are eased.
"We know that symptoms of this strain seem to be mild, but deliberately allowing it to spread like wildfire across the country is reckless and will put unnecessary pressure on our NHS and those who provide essential services across our region.
"Boris Johnson shouldn’t be using a public health crisis to try and distract from his abysmal leadership. After the revelations about drinks gatherings at Downing Street in lockdown, I have been contacted by many constituents disgusted at his actions. His position has now become untenable, and he must resign."
Labour's Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck MP, accused Mr Johnson of making the move to save his own job, instead of our of concern for public health.
He said: "The government has lost all authority due to the Prime Minister and his colleagues flouting the rules they imposed.
"Nobody in the country trusts them and this seems designed to save his position with backbenches rather than the country's health.
"The Prime Minister has become the single biggest threat to this country’s public health and it is absolutely necessary he steps down for the government to regain any semblance of authority going forward.”
Addressing parliament on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said infections with the Omicron variant had now "peaked".
He said: “Today’s latest ONS data show clearly that infection levels are falling in England and 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.
“There remain, of course, significant pressures on the NHS across our country, and especially in the North East and North West, but hospital admissions which were doubling every nine days just two weeks ago have now stabilised, with admissions in London even falling. The numbers in intensive care not only remain low but are actually also falling.”
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