Covid level 4 alert raised following rapid increase in omicron cases

The UK’s Covid alert level has been raised from Level 3 to Level 4 amid concern about the spread of the new omicron variant of the disease.

In a joint statement on Sunday evening (12 December) the chief medical officers and NHS England said they had recommended this action given the fast rise in omicron cases recorded.

“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.