Omicron cases in UK have ‘TREBLED in 5 days with 1 in 300 infections down to super-mutant’

THE OMICRON variant is on the rise in the UK with suspected cases trebling in just five days.

Scientists estimate that one in 300 new infections are now due to the super-mutated bug.

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It is up from one in 1,000 around a week ago - suggesting fresh cases are still being imported, as well as spreading in the community.

Boris Johnson has reintroduced face masks in shops and public transport in the hope of slowing the variant.

And all travellers to the UK must now quarantine at home until they get the results of a day 2 PCR test.

There have been 32 confirmed cases of the new Omicron variant so far – with 22 in England and 10 in Scotland.

But experts say the true number is likely to be significantly higher.

The fear is that vaccines will prove less effective against the latest mutation, sparking a race to offer booster jabs to all Brit adults by the end of January.

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Epidemiologist Nick Davies, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the latest NHS Test and Trace data suggests Omicron infections are on the rise.

It shows 0.3 per cent of positive PCR tests lacked the “s-gene” - which is a tale-tell sign of the new mutation.

And cases are up three-fold from the previous week from just 0.1 per cent of the national total.

It suggests around 60 extra Omicron cases over a five-day period.

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Writing on , he said: “In the last five days - 24 – 28 Nov - the level of S-gene target failure [SGTF] has gone up from its usual approximately 0.1 per cent to approximately 0.3 per cent.

“These are not huge numbers of cases — this represents about 60 more SGTF cases.

“However, this number will probably go up, as the last 2 to 3 days of data are still filtering in.

“Given that Omicron causes SGTF, while the otherwise globally dominant Delta variant doesn't, these "excess" SGTFs are most likely Omicron cases.”

Officials believe the majority of the new cases have been imported from abroad, with community transmission still low.