As mentioned earlier, here is the photograph from The Guardian's front page showing Boris Johnson, his wife and 17 staff members in the Downing Street garden with bottles of wine and a cheese board during lockdown.

The paper says it was taken in May 2020 when there were strict rules on mixing.

In response, a No 10 spokesperson said: "Work meetings often take place in the Downing Street garden in the summer months.

"On this occasion there were staff meetings following a No 10 press conference.

"Downing Street is the prime minister's home as well as his workplace. The prime minister's wife lives in No 10 and therefore also legitimately uses the garden."

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged Johnson to "tell us the truth" about gatherings at Downing Street.

The government must plan for the worst impacts of Omicron and make decisions quickly, says an epidemiologist from the SPI-M modelling group which advises Sage.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Mark Woolhouse tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that modelling was correct when it warned of Omicron's rapid spread, within a week of the variant's discovery.

The big unknown now is when that wave will peak or how high it will be, says the professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.

That will depend on how people behave - whether that's due to restrictions or their own choices, he says.

Boosters also protect against severe disease so hopefully the death rate will come down quite dramatically, he says.

Modelling from Sage - scientists who advise the government - puts UK daily deaths at 600 a day at best and 6,000 a day at worst.

Prof Woolhouse says: "If the government is going to act, it's much better for it to act quickly than it is to delay."

Image source, AFP

The last shopping weekend before Christmas is normally a busy one - but retail analysts say UK shoppers chose to avoid High Streets and city centres amid fears over Omicron.

The number of people on High Streets fell by 5.9% on Sunday but rose 4.8% at retail parks week-on-week, retail analysis firm Springboard said.

Springboard's Diane Wehrle said consumers were "clearly cautious" about venturing out to the shops.

Shoppers were also making quick "in and out" visits, another expert added.

Ms Wehrle said, in part, this was due to shoppers trying to get a head start in buying groceries, while also preferring the "Covid-friendly" nature of retail parks, as they are in the open air, have large stores and can be easily reached by car.

Read more here.

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

Image source, GSK/VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY

A new Covid drug designed to reduce the risk of vulnerable patients needing hospital treatment will be available on the NHS from today.

Sotrovimab is a monoclonal antibody given as a transfusion to transplant recipients, cancer patients and other high-risk groups.

If given quickly after symptoms develop it should help prevent people from falling seriously ill with the disease.

Initial clinical trials, which have not yet been peer reviewed, suggest it reduces the risk of hospitalisation in the most vulnerable patients by 79% and its makers say it should work against the Omicron variant.

Prof Steven Powis, the national medical director of NHS England said new treatments like this will have “an important role to play” in the pandemic going forward.

It’s thought the Department of Health has placed initial orders for 100,000 doses of the drug to be distributed across the four nations of the UK - a number described as “very limited” by one independent expert.

More on the treatment and how it will be used here.

Image source, PA Media

Businesses need more support to get them through these difficult months, Labour's Rachel Reeves says.

Reeves - who is the shadow chancellor - tells the Today programme that if the government was planning to bring in further restrictions, "then it is essential that businesses and workers are supported".

"There's so many practical things the government could be doing right now. For example, sorting out sick pay," she says.

"Many, many people are having to isolate at the moment, for many that is inconvenient.

"Self-isolating is a choice between doing the right thing for your health and public health and being able to pay the bills."

She adds:

Pushed on whether England can expect further Covid restrictions in the coming days, Dominic Raab says: "I'm not going to trail things when decisions haven't been made."

Asked if he accepts boosters alone are not enough to slow the spread of Omicron, he says that "the government has implemented Plan B precisely because of that".

He says evidence is being reviewed hour-by-hour and day-by-day, but the public should use common sense judgement on who they are mixing with.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme now.

Asked if he can rule out Christmas lockdowns, he says: "We can't make hard fast guarantees."

The booster rollout makes tougher restrictions "much less likely" though - but "it depends on the severity of Omicron", Raab adds.

He says scientists are "constantly contesting the science" and particularly the modelling, as it's based on assumptions while the government is about hard facts.

As we've reported, the Guardian has an exclusive photo which it says shows Boris Johnson, his wife and 17 staff members in the garden at Downing Street, during lockdown in May last year, external.

The paper says the wine, cheese, and lack of social distancing raise fresh questions about No 10's insistence it was a "work meeting". (More on that story here.)

The papers also consider whether more Covid rules in England before Christmas could be likely.

The Times says Chancellor Rishi Sunak is one of at least 10 cabinet ministers who are resisting calls from scientific advisers , externalworried about the impact of the Omicron variant on hospital admissions.

It reports that a third of the cabinet have questioned the accuracy of the modelling used by scientists.

The Daily Telegraph agrees there is strong cabinet opposition to tougher measures, external, but it says the prime minister might urge the public to limit social mixing, without legal enforcement.

According to the Sun, the prime minister is "under massive pressure" , externalfrom what it calls "gloomy scientists" to bring in fresh curbs including in pubs.

Read the full paper review.

BBC Breakfast's final question to Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is on what the government is doing to help businesses affected by Covid restrictions.

The hospitality industry is calling for support after fears surrounding the more transmissible variant has seen many Christmas parties cancelled.

Rabb says the chancellor keeps everything under review but there is extra business rates relief, VAT is being charged at a lower rate, there are loans and a pot of £200m for those particularly affected by restrictions.

He says the government has protected jobs and livelihoods through furlough, the bounceback scheme and loans.

Raab says despite some industries struggling, overall the UK economy is the fastest growing in the G7 with jobs and wages up.

More from the deputy PM on BBC Breakfast now.

Raab says the government is waiting for real-time data on the severity of Omicron before it can take any decisions on further restrictions.

He's asked what he's going to do with the advice of the Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty and the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Valance who say further Covid restrictions are required.

Rabb says the government will take the advice and test the modelling but rely on real-time data.

"We know Omicron is spreading fast, doubling every two or three days, but we don't know the severity yet," he says.

He says 53% of adults have now had their booster after 900,000 people came forward on Saturday.

He says there have been 104 hospital admissions of people with Omicron but the "missing piece" is whether this leads to deaths.

It's the question many are asking - are new restrictions going to be imposed in England to control Omicron, and if so, when?

Our chief political correspondent Adam Fleming tells us that civil servants have prepared a "menu of three options" that range in stringency, according to a Whitehall source. Ministers are yet to make a choice.

According to newspaper reports this morning, there are splits around the cabinet table, with some ministers - a third of the cabinet, according to The Times - questioning the accuracy of official modelling.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is now talking to BBC Breakfast.

First off he's asked about the photograph of Boris Johnson, external and 17 members of staff having cheese and wine in the garden of No 10.

The Guardian, which published the picture, says it was taken in May 2020 when outdoor socialising was limited to one person from another household.

Raab says this was not a social event. He says the No 10 garden is used for work meetings and due to the pressures that everyone was going through, people would have something to drink on occasion at the end of a "gruelling" day.

Thank you for joining us for live coverage of coronavirus in the UK and around the world.

Here’s a look at this morning’s headlines:

• PM Boris Johnson is being urged to respond to the surging number of Covid cases
• Civil servants have prepared three options ranging in stringency for ministers to consider, sources tell the BBC
• Scientists insist immediate action is needed to stop hospital admissions in England reaching 3,000 a day
• But some Conservative MPs are likely to oppose further restrictions, which the health secretary refused to rule out ahead of Christmas
• The No 10 parties saga continues with a photo of the PM and others with wine and cheese in the No 10 garden during lockdown
• Downing Street says the picture, thought to be from May 2020 when outdoor socialising was restricted, was a work meeting
• Meanwhile, figures show shoppers avoided UK High Streets and city centres on the weekend before Christmas
• And hospitality businesses continue to call for help from the Treasury as bookings are cancelled