Another 90 Omicron cases found in UK taking total to 336 as Covid cases above 50,000 for third time in ten days

ANOTHER 90 Omicron cases have been recorded in the UK - as the country's case total rises above 50,000 for the third time in ten days.

Today's 51,459 cases marks a 20.8 per cent week-on-week rise - after 42,583 cases were recorded last Monday.

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The case total last hit the 50,000 mark on December 3 - when 50,584 positive tests were recorded. One day earlier, 53,945 cases were seen.

And the UK's death toll has soared by 17 per cent this week after a 41 people died after contracting coronavirus.

It comes amid reports that cases of Omicron are likely to be five times higher than those 336 confirmed so far.

Professor Paul Hunter said there was current concern that Omicron “is spreading rather more quickly than the Delta variant”.

It is therefore "probable" the super mutant Covid strain would be dominant in around a month.

According to the latest data, there are now 261 confirmed cases in England, 71 in Scotland and four in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases across the UK to 336.

Due to a time lag between exposure and test results, it may be that there are several hundred more infected who are not aware. 

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Cases may also be underreported because Omicron is only detected in tests that are genetically sequenced.

Just a fraction - 25 per cent - of all positive tests are screened for identification of variant. 

UKHSA has already warned the mutant variant is “transmitting rapidly and successfully" after first being identified here a week ago.

Prof Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said there were probably more than 1,000 cases in the UK at the moment.

He told BBC Breakfast: “How it’s likely to spread in the UK still uncertain, but I think the early signs are that it will probably spread quite quickly and probably start outcompeting Delta and become the dominant variant probably within the next weeks or a month or so at least.

“The big remaining question is actually how harmful it is if you do get Covid with this Omicron variant, and that’s the question that we’re struggling to answer at the moment.”

Prof Hunter said it was not clear how evidence from South Africa would translate to the UK as we have a highly vaccinated population.

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