Covid: UK reports 119,789 new cases in another record rise as Omicron variant surges

NHS on ‘war footing’ amid booster jab race, rising hospitalisations and soaring numbers of staff off sick with virus

The UK has reported yet another record daily surge of coronavirus cases, as the Omicron variant continues to spread rapidly through the nation.

The country reported a further 119,789 new cases on Thursday – marking the second day in a row that previous records were broken, after new infections exceeded 100,000 for the first time on Wednesday. With test supplies struggling to meet soaring demand, the actual number is likely to be far higher.

A further 147 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 147,720. Separate figures show the virus has now been mentioned on a total of 173,000 death certificates.

It comes amid a race to get booster jabs into arms as quickly as possible, with an early study by Imperial College London having suggested that a third vaccine dose could offer around 85 per cent protection against severe illness with Omicron.

The NHS is on a “war footing”, national medical director Stephen Powis warned on Thursday, saying: “Staff are taking the fight to omicron, by boosting hundreds of thousands of people each day, treating thousands of seriously ill Covid patients and delivering urgent care for other conditions, all while seeing a worrying, high and rising increase in absence due to Covid.”

Figures showed the number of NHS staff off sick with coronavirus reached 18,829 last week – a rise of 50 per cent in seven days, fuelling growing concerns about levels of absences in the coming weeks. Most hospitals in England forecast that more than 30 per cent of staff could be off sick in January.

In London, the epicentre of the UK’s outbreak, the number of people in hospital on Thursday was at the highest level since February – up 44 per cent from a week earlier, compared with 11 per cent across England, according to NHS figures, but both so far remain at a fraction of the peak seen in January.

Locally, NHS trusts and leaders have been asked if they would be able to open temporary “field” hospitals due to fears over a shortage of beds in the coming weeks, and on Wednesday evening the NHS published guidance asking hospitals to prepare to use hotels and care homes as wards for patients who cannot yet be discharged home.

Meanwhile, two preliminary studies published on Wednesday by Imperial and the University of Edinburgh, based on a small number of cases, found that those infected with the Omicron variant were 40 to 70 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital than with Delta.

But, while it remains unclear whether Omicron is innately less virulent than its predecessors or merely appears so because of the high levels of immunity in the population, scientists warned that a reduction in severity could be cancelled out by the “alarming” rate at which Omicron is spreading.

Sajid Javid hailed “promising” estimates from the UK Health Security Agency on Thursday, which suggested that Omicron cases were 50 to 70 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital than someone with the Delta variant.

But the health secretary added: “Hospital admissions are increasing, and we cannot risk the NHS being overwhelmed. This is early-stage analysis and we continue to monitor the data hour by hour. It is still too early to determine next steps.”

Earlier, Mr Javid had confirmed England would not see further restrictions before Christmas – but uncertainty remains over whether more curbs will be brought in before the New Year.

The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all already announced that new measures will be put in place in the days after Christmas.