Health secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday (December 6) there is now community transmission of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across regions of England but it is too early to say if this will "knock us off our road to recovery".
Defending the introduction of stricter rules to slow the spread of the virus, Javid told parliament that the government was "leaving nothing to chance" while scientists assessed the variant, which was first reported in South Africa last month.
Javid said there are now 261 Omicron cases in England, 71 in Scotland and four in Wales - a total of 336.
"This includes cases with no links to international travel, so we can conclude there is now community transmission across multiple regions of England," Javid said.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said on Monday no further restrictions were currently needed to deal with the Omicron variant, but refused to rule out imposing such measures before Christmas.
Britain on Tuesday (January 4) faced warnings of an impending hospital crisis due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, as the country
returned to work after Christmas.
However, Britain's vaccine minister said hospitalised Covid-19 patients were showing less severe symptoms than before, adding that there was no need for further
restrictions at this stage.
Prime minister Boris Johnson resisted imposing stringent lockdown measures in England ahead of New Year as Omicron fuelled a spike in cases to record highs.
While hospitalisations are rising they have not tracked the trajectory of daily cases, possibly reflecting the impact of vaccines and booster shots, the likely lower severity of Omicron and the time lag in people going into hospital.
"At the moment, if you look at the people who have been hospitalised, they are going in with less severe conditions than before," minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup told Sky News, adding that the "Plan B" Johnson brought in in December was working.
"The numbers that are in hospital beds is about half what it was a year ago - and that just shows the power of the vaccine."
The prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England rose to around one in 60 people in the week ending November 27, the Office for National Statistics said today (December 03), led higher by the dominant Delta variant rather than the newly identified Omicron.
The prevalence was up from one in 65 reported the previous week, the ONS said, adding that 99 per cent of all coronavirus infections which were sequenced were
genetically compatible with the Delta variant.
"To date, we have not identified any infections compatible with the new Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) among our survey participants," the ONS said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has introduced travel restrictions and some mask mandates, with a view to slowing the spread of Omicron while work is undertaken to
understand it better.
There have been 42 confirmed cases of the variant in Britain, which has mutations consistent with reduced vaccine efficacy.
New mask mandates and other measures aimed at curbing the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant came into England today, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson eyes an expanded booster programme to help increase protection against Covid-19.
From Tuesday morning (November 30), face masks are compulsory on transport and in shops, banks and hair salons.
All international travellers must take a PCR test by the end of the second day after they arrive, and self-isolate until they get their result. That is in addition to restrictions on arrivals from 10 southern African countries, who have to enter hotel quarantine.
Britain has reported 11 cases of the Omicron variant so far, and while the government says this number will rise, it says it is important to slow its spread until more is known about the variant's transmissibility and impact on vaccines.
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