More than 12,000 new Omicron Covid cases reported in UK as record number of booster vaccines given
An arts club said business has gone back to where it was last March and a London nurse describes how the NHS workforce is depleted, ITV News Reporter Martin Stew reports
A further 12,133 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been reported across the UK, the UK Health Security Agency announced.
The number of new Omicron cases reported on Sunday is a new record - surpassing the previous record on Saturday of 10,059.
The total number of confirmed Omicron cases in the UK now stands at 37,101.
However, in Thursday's meeting of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), experts said they were “almost certain that there are now hundreds of thousands of new Omicron infections per day” in England.
Meanwhile, there were 82,886 new Covid cases of all variants, the UK government reported in the latest 24-hour period - it brings the total number of infections to 11,361,387.
A further 45 Covid-related deaths have been reported - these are where people have died within 28 days of a positive test.
The UK's Covid death toll stands at 147,218.
Saturday saw a record number of booster jabs given in the UK - 904,598 got their third vaccine dose. More than 28 million people have now had three doses.
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England
There were 11,304 more Omicron cases reported in England, the UK Health Security Agency reports. A total of 34,473 Omicron cases have been reported in the country.
For all variants of Covid, there were 71,702 more cases - bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 9,655,061.
There were 38 more Covid deaths and England's Covid death toll stands at 127,977.
Wales
91 more Omicron cases were detected in Wales. The nation has had a total of 272 cases of the variant.
In terms of all Covid variants, there were 3,462 more cases and four more Covid-related deaths.
The infection toll in the country is 553,163 and the virus-related death toll is at 6,508.
Scotland
284 new Omicron cases were in Scotland, bringing the total number in the nation to 1,075.
When looking at all Covid variants, there were 5,924 new cases, bringing the total in the country to 799,970.
And Covid-related deaths rose by one to a total of 9,781.
Northern Ireland
Of the three devolved nations in the UK, Northern Ireland had the highest number of new Omicron cases - 454. The nation has a total of 1,281 cases of the highly infectious Covid variant.
Meanwhile, there were 1,798 more Covid cases of all strains and two more Covid-related deaths reported.
Northern Ireland has had a total of 353,193 Covid infections and 2,952 deaths related to the virus.
Scientists believe something close to a lockdown is needed to avoid a catastrophic impact on the NHS from the Omicron wave, ITV News Political Reporter Harry Horton explains
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has refused to rule out implementing further restrictions before Christmas, saying "there are no guarantees in this pandemic".
Sage scientist Stephen Reicher also warned that new measures, such as a circuit-breaker, lockdown, are needed soon to combat the Omicron variant.
The latest figures for Covid patients in hospital, which are for Thursday, suggest there were 7,611 patients in hospital with the virus and 875 on ventilation beds.
But Sage scientists in Thursday's meeting said hospital admissions with the Covid variant in the UK are “probably around one tenth of the true number” due to a lag in reporting.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a major incident on Saturday due to the “hugely concerning” surge in cases across the capital.
Travel industry takes a hit
Germany on Sunday banned most travellers from Britain. Only German nationals and residents can travel to the country, and they must have a negative test and quarantine for two weeks, even if they have been vaccinated.
The new rules come into force from Sunday evening.
Denmark, France, Norway and Lebanon have also been added to Germany's list of high risk countries.
France on Saturday also banned tourists from travelling to and from the UK.
A mum is not able to fly with her children to Berlin to see family this Christmas, another mum travelling abroad said she had not seen her family in two years - ITV News Reporter Ian Woods reports on how Covid restrictions on international travel have impacted people.
Football fixtures hit by Covid
The spread of Omicron has also dealt a blow to the football schedule, with numerous games postponed due to outbreaks at clubs.
Leicester's game on Sunday at Everton was one of six games postponed this weekend. Chelsea's appeal to have their league game against Wolves delayed was denied.
Premier League clubs are due to hold talks on Monday about what to do about the worsening situation.