Omicron cases rise by 30% as weekly Covid infections ‘highest since January’
OMICRON cases have risen by a third in one day amid fears the UK could be slapped with new and "swift" restrictions.
It comes as data shows the UK has seen the highest number of Covid infections in one week since January.
The UK Health Security Agency announced another 101 cases of the super mutated strain, taking the total to 437.
Most are in England (333), followed by Scotland (99) and Wales (five). There are zero cases in Northern Ireland.
But scientists say infections are likely to be closer to 1,000 to 2,000 across the four nations, due to underreporting.
Professor Tim Spector said early data suggested cases of the coronavirus mutation are doubling every two days.
If this proves to be correct, it puts the UK on course to overtake some of the 11 countries on the travel “red list”.
The Prime Minister has told ministers that the Omicron variant of coronavirus appears to be “more transmissible” than Delta.
🔵 Read our Omicron variant live blog for the latest news
Boris Johnson later added “now is the time” for people to get a booster jab, with the Sun's Jab's Army campaign calling for volunteers to help the country-wide effort.
Over-40's can now book in online for their next dose, with those under-40 waiting on invitations from the NHS.
The PM's spokesman said there was no debate around the Cabinet table on whether to introduce Plan B to tackle Omicron.
But they did not rule out fresh restrictions before Christmas, saying: "We are able to move relatively swiftly if required."
Today a further 45,691 cases were announced, up 15 per cent from the 39,716 reported last Tuesday, and 50 per cent from the 30,305 a month ago.
A total of 336,893 new cases have been reported in the past seven days - the highest number for a seven-day period since the week to January 16.
Most read in Health
The record of 417,620 cases was in the week to January 9.
Experts predict that Covid cases could double to 90,000 per day by Christmas, as Omicron and the current dominant Delta compete with each other.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs on Monday that none of the Omicron variant cases identified to date had resulted in hospital admission.
The most recent government figures show 7,268 people with coronavirus in hospital in the UK, down from 7,553 a week earlier.
There is also no indication deaths are going up, with the daily average flat at around 100 per day.
Due to the time lag between exposure to the virus and severe illness, any uptick in admissions or deaths would not become clear for some time.
There are some indications that this strain of the virus may be more mild than Delta - although the trend may be a result of vaccines.
Some scientists have warned that even if the disease is more mild, the rapid speed of spread would inevitably cause an increase in hospital rates.
Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid-19 genomics initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said more work would show what fraction of people are getting very ill with Omicron.
WATCHING THE WAVE
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “And the potential problem is that even if that’s a very small fraction, a small fraction of a really big number can still cause problems."
It comes as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today warned of the threat Omicron posed of putting additional pressures on hospitals.
She said: “The sheer weight of numbers of people who could be infected as a result of increased transmissibility and some immunity evasion will create this pressure even if the disease the new variant causes in individuals is no more severe than Delta."
Ms Sturgeon told Scots to work from home until mid-January at least.
UKHSA data showed of 22 cases known up to November 30, 12 were fully vaccinated people, while two others had one dose.
It shows that Omicron is able to break through immunity built through prior infection or vaccines - to what extent will not be clear for some time.
Mr Javid also confirmed on Monday that there was now community transmission of Omicron in the UK, meaning there were cases with no links to travel.
He told MPs the new variant could ";knock us off our road to recovery".
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The Government is throwing all its weight into the vaccine programme to help protect the UK from Omicron devastation.
Travel restrictions have also been brought in while mandatory face masks are expected to stay until the New Year at least.