UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned of a looming 'tidal wave' of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, and brought forward a target to give over-18s a booster jab.
Source:UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned of a looming "tidal wave" of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, and brought forward a target to give over-18s a booster jab by one month to the end of December.
That brings the total number of UK cases of Omicron to 3,137 - a 65 per cent increase from Saturday's total of 1,898.Britain began easing coronavirus restrictions in June and the alert level was at stage three, which means the virus is in general circulation. "Transmission of COVID-19 is already high in the community, mainly still driven by Delta, but the emergence of Omicron adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services," they said.
The move is designed to reduce pressure on the state-run National Health Service which is dealing with seasonal respiratory infections such as flu.The government had set itself a target of giving everyone aged 18 and over in England a booster jab by the end of January. More than 530,000 booster jabs were given on Saturday, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
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