Omicron hospital cases could surge, England's chief medical officer warns
Downing Street has said no further restrictions are being planned for England, but at a virtual cabinet meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a "huge spike" of infections.
Prof Whitty told the meeting it remained too early to say how severe the Omicron variant was but that the UK should expect a significant increase in hospitalisations, Downing Street said. The UK Health Security Agency has estimated the current number of daily infections of the Omicron variant in the UK is around 200,000.
It said 633 additional cases were reported on Tuesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases of the variant to 5,346.Chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Susan Hopkins, told a committee of MPs the Omicron variant was re-infecting more people than the previously dominant Delta variant.
She said the UK faced "a very difficult four weeks ahead" and will "need some level of restrictions in place for the next four to eight weeks".
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