Covid experts give their predictions for Christmas as two new sub variants found in UK

Professor Friston said: "It looks as if the current peak has passed and the long-term forecast suggests a subsequent peak after Christmas.

"This appears to be largely driven by seasonal fluctuations in transmission risk and a slower underlying increase, due to the emergence of new variants."

Speaking to The Sun, Prof Karl said the modelling took into account the two new Omicron sub variants, named BQ.1 and XBB, which were first discovered in the UK last week.

And therefore the "predictions of a January wave are unchanged".

"At present, it appears that this wave will be larger in terms of prevalence, compared to previous waves, but less serious in terms of morbidity and death," he explains.

Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is showing a slow down in infections in the past week, following a worrying spike in September.

The number of people testing positive rose by just 40,000 to 2.05million  in the week to October 17 - a mere 2 per cent rise from the week before.

And more recent data showed the number of hospitalisations is also down by 16 per cent within the same time period.

It shows the latest Covid surge is dying, having caused less damage than any previous wave.

However, Kara Steel, ONS senior statistician for the Covid-19 infection survey, said the new figures show a “mixed picture”.

“It remains too early to say from the data whether we are seeing a turning point in the level of infections – which remain high across the countries," she said.

Meanwhile, two new Covid strains have been detected in the UK - with more than 700 cases identified so far.

The sub-strains, BQ.1 and XBB, are descendants of Omicron - the dominant strain currently circulating.

BQ.1 is a highly transmissible off-shoot of the omicron subvariant BA.5.