Government vaccine advisers recommend the booster jab for 16 and 17-year-olds
The JCVI also say vulnerable primary school children should be offered a low-dose jab
UK records 106,000 new Covid cases - the first time the figure for daily infections has exceeded 100,000
A record 968,665 booster and third doses were reported in the UK on Tuesday
Wales has followed Scotland in announcing post-Christmas Covid restrictions
A maximum of six people will be allowed to meet in pubs, cinemas and restaurants and 2m social distancing will return
And nightclubs in Northern Ireland will have to close from 27 December, BBC News understands
Boris Johnson has not ruled out new restrictions in England after Christmas
But isolation for positive cases has been cut from 10 days down to seven after two negative tests
EU nations including Germany and Portugal have announced post-Christmas restrictions as Omicron cases rise
Thanks for joining us. Today's contributors were Jen Meierhans, Jo Couzens, Sophie Williams, Matt Murphy and Mary O’Connor. The live page was edited by Chris Clayton and Owen Amos.
As ever, you can follow any major developments on the news site - just go to the front page. And for more in-depth coverage, you can go to our dedicated coronavirus section, here.
Image source, PA MediaWe’ll be ending our live coverage for today shortly but, before we go, here’s a reminder of today’s main coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world:
Image source, Getty ImagesAustrian hospitality settings, including Christmas markets, re-opened just 10 days ago after a three week lockdown in November
Austria has announced pans to re-introduce coronavirus restrictions after Christmas, including a 10pm closing time for hospitality venues, in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, health officials have announced.
The new closing time will be imposed on the hospitality sector from 27 December and will remain in place for New Year's Eve, Covid-19 policy co-ordinator Katharina Reich said during a press conference.
She urged the public to celebrate the holiday in small groups and with vaccinated people only.
Reich also announced the classification of the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway as risk areas, meaning arrivals from the countries must go into quarantine if they have not received a booster vaccination.
Austria only emerged from a three-week lockdown 10 days ago but fears have been raised in recent days over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the country.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe wave of Omicron appears to be milder according to preliminary studies published in the UK and South Africa.
Early evidence suggests fewer people are needing hospital treatment - potentially about a two-thirds reduction - than with other variants.
The researchers said their findings were a "qualified good news story".
However, the concern remains that even if Omicron is milder, the sheer number of cases could still overwhelm hospitals.
A study in Scotland has been tracking coronavirus and the number of people ending up in hospital.
It said that if Omicron behaved the same as Delta then they would expect about 47 people to have been admitted to hospital already. At the moment there are only 15.
However, the study is based on very few cases and had few people over age 65, who are most at risk of severe disease.
Read the full story here.
Smitha Mundasad
News reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesHealth and care staff who test positive for coronavirus in England can now return to work up to three days before their 10-day isolation period is complete - but must do extra tests, according to new guidance, external.
England’s health chiefs will be keeping their fingers crossed that the tweaked guidelines go some way to maintaining staffing levels during a difficult winter while limiting the spread of coronavirus to vulnerable people in hospitals and care homes.
According to the document, if health and care staff are well, and no longer have any symptoms, they can take lateral flow tests on day six and seven.
If negative – unlike most other adults - they are asked to test again on day eight, nine and 10.
They can return to work on day eight provided they have a negative lateral flow. But if any of their lateral flow tests return a positive result they need to isolate once more.
Some staff, particularly those working with patients most vulnerable to Covid, could be asked to work in less risky areas until the original 10-day isolation period is complete.
Here are some of the latest graphics explaining the coronavirus situation in the UK.
Ex-prime minister Tony Blair has described eligible people who are not vaccinated against Covid and have no medical reason not to get the jab as idiots.
The former Labour PM tells Times Radio those who choose not to have a vaccine should not be targeted in a heavy-handed way but persuaded to have a jab.
He says: "There may be all sorts of reasons, but honestly it is in their own interest, never mind the public interest, for them to get vaccinated."
He also says the decision to vaccinate people under the age of 12 should have been taken "some time ago", adding: "I don't know what we're waiting for."
He says he backs the government in not imposing further further restrictions before Christmas but describes the decision as "incredibly difficult" and a "gamble".
'Where is the PM?' Javid is asked
During his visit to a hospital in south London earlier the health secretary was asked by a reporter whether the prime minister was "in hiding".
Boris Johnson's most recent address to the nation yesterday came via a video statement uploaded to Twitter, rather than the traditional press conference format where he is asked questions by journalists.
In his recent appearances, the prime minister has faced questions over reported gatherings in Downing Street when the country was under Covid restrictions.
But Sajid Javid says Johnson "couldn't be working harder" and tht he is having meetings with the prime minister "two or three times a day".
Wales' health minister says she plans to begin offering the Covid vaccine to five to 11-year-olds in the "at risk" group, after that latest recommendation from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
Eluned Morgan says she has accepted the JCVI's advice, adding that NHS Wales will start identifying eligible children in the new year, and people under the age of 18 will get a booster jab appointment when they become eligible.
Baroness Morgan pledges that the "appropriate information" on the "potential benefits and risks" of having the jab will be shared with children, young people and their parents or guardians so they can make an informed choice.
The recommendations by the scientific experts have to be officially approved by ministers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - but this is normally a formality.
Image source, Getty ImagesAs we reported earlier, the government's vaccine advisers have recommended that a low-dose Covid vaccine should be given to vulnerable children aged 5 to 11.
But who is currently eligible for the vaccine?
What about boosters?
In England boosters are available to over 18s - as long as it's three months since their second dose.
Boosters are also available to people aged 16 or over, external with a health condition that puts them at high risk of serious illness from Covid or if they care or live with someone at high risk.
Boosters can be booked , externaltwo months after a second dose. Some walk-in appointments may be available, external - depending on where you live.
Scotland aims to offer booster appointments to all eligible adults before the end of the year. As in England, boosters can be booked online, external.
Wales also hopes to hit the end of December target. People should wait to be invited for their booster, with older and higher-risk people being prioritised.
Northern Ireland's booster plan is also being accelerated.
People aged 18 to 29 will be able to go to walk-in hubs from Monday and make booster appointments from Wednesday, 22 December.
You can read more here.
The number of coronavirus cases in the UK has increased by 238,350 or 58.9% in the past seven days, compared with the previous week, according to the government figures.
The number of daily deaths reported has decreased by 2.7% in the last seven days, compared with the previous week.
But it's worth remembering that it takes time for hospital admissions and deaths to show up in the figures after cases start to rise. And it's only been a few weeks since the first Omicron cases were identified in the UK.
You can read our full report on the latest figures here.
There have been a further 106,122 cases of coronavirus reported in the UK today, according to the latest government figures, external. It is the first time more than 100,000 cases have been reported in a single day.
And there have been another 140 deaths, of people who had tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days.
BBC Radio 5 Live
Image source, Emma DowneyEmma Downey is co-owner of Tides Kitchen and Wine Bar in Newport, Pembrokeshire.
She tells 5 Live’s Naga Munchetty tighter restrictions on hospitality in Wales mean she will have to close the restaurant side of her business.
“We knew it was coming,” she says. “We knew something was going to change… but the damage has already been done in the past week.
“I feel completely despondent today, we’ll honour our bookings for next week to include New Year’s Eve, but after that we’ll close the restaurant side of the business until we can open with some normality."
Nightclubs in Northern Ireland will have to close on 27 December as fresh restrictions are imposed to tackle the Omicron Covid variant, BBC News NI understands.
Stormont ministers have been meeting to agree measures to help manage rising Covid cases across Northern Ireland.
It is understood they are also likely to agree tighter restrictions on hospitality including table service and limits on numbers at tables.
Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Monitoring
Image source, ReutersThe World Health Organization (WHO) has rejected as “100% incorrect” social media claims that its director general thinks Covid vaccine boosters are being used to kill children.
A brief clip from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s press briefing on Monday is being promoted by online anti-vaccine activists as evidence that vaccinating children is deadly.
Addressing the rollout of Covid vaccine boosters, he said vaccinating old and vulnerable groups in developing nations was a higher priority than offering booster shots to children in high income nations.
“It’s better to focus on those groups who have the risk of severe disease and death, rather than, as we see, some countries are using to give boosters to children, which is not right,” Dr Tedros said.
However, he stumbles on his words at the end, which makes it appear as though he is suggesting booster jabs “kill children”.
A WHO spokesperson told the BBC that Dr Ghebreyesus “got stuck on the first syllable ‘chil’ and it came out sounding like ‘cil/kil'.
“He repeated the same syllable, with it coming out ‘cil-children’. Any other interpretation of this is 100% incorrect.”
Image source, Getty ImagesNigeria has destroyed more than one million doses of coronavirus vaccines, saying international donors delivered the vials just before their expiry date, sparing little time for distribution around the country.
The AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Nigeria over the course of October, but expired the next month authorities said.
At a dump site in Abuja, a bulldozer crushed the shots which were packed in cardboard boxes and plastic as reporters and health officials watched.
AstraZeneca doses can normally be stored safely for at least six months from the time of manufacture, under suitable conditions.
But Nigeria's health minister Osagie Ehanire told the BBC earlier this month that the late delivery "left us very short time, some just weeks, to use them, after deduction of time to transport, clear, distribute and deliver to users".
New coronavirus infections have increased by over 500% in the past two weeks in Africa's most populous nation, where just 4% of the 200 million strong population are fully vaccinated.
Image source, Getty ImagesAn early assessment of the Omicron variant in South Africa suggests the risk of severe disease may be lower than with earlier strains of the coronavirus.
The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, was carried out by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and found that people diagnosed with Omicron in South Africa between 1 October and and 30 November were 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital than those diagnosed with other variants over the same period.
But the authors stressed that some of the findings may be attributed to higher levels of population immunity caused by vaccinations and past infections, and stressed that further research is needed.
It is estimated that 60-70% of South Africans have had a prior coronavirus infection.
"Compellingly, together our data really suggest a positive story of a reduced severity of Omicron compared to other variants," Professor Cheryl Cohen of the NICD said.
"What is unclear is whether the picture will be similar in countries where there are high levels of vaccination but very low levels of previous infection," she added.
Results of a major study released by Imperial College London last week found that there are no indications that Omicron is milder than the Delta variant, although data on hospitalisations remains very limited and the study has not been peer reviewed.
Image source, Getty ImagesFrance has become the first country to announce publicly that it has cancelled its order for Merck & Co's Covid-19 antiviral drug following the publication of disappointing trial data.
Merck released results from trials at the end of November which suggested the drug was markedly less effective than previously thought, reducing hospitalisations and deaths in its clinical trial of high-risk individuals by just 30%.
French officials had placed an order for 50,000 doses of the drug molnupiravir.
But Health Minister Olivier Veran told local media that the "latest studies weren't good" and added that the cancellation would not incur any cost.
France will instead order an antiviral drug manufactured by the American pharmaceuticals manufacturer Pfizer, which studies suggest cuts the risk of severe illness and death by 90%.
Several other European countries, including Germany and Italy, have also placed orders for Merck's pill and it remains unclear whether they will continue with the purchase.
A record 968,665 booster and third doses of Covid-19 vaccine were reported in the UK on Tuesday, new figures show.
The previous record was 940,606 doses on Saturday.
More than 30.8 million booster and third doses have now been delivered in the UK, with 6.1 million in the past seven days.
The figures have been published by the UK's four health agencies.
Image source, Getty ImagesWe've just brought you news of the JCVI's recommendation that vulnerable primary school aged children should be offered low-dose Covid vaccines.
We've got a bit more detail on what that might mean.
A low-dose version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for five to 11-year-olds has just been approved for use in the UK after being deemed safe and effective.
It contains one-third of the adult dose and should be given eight weeks apart.
But despite the recommendation, a final decision on vaccinating this age group has not yet been made.
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said: "Parents and carers can be reassured that no new vaccine for children would have been approved unless the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness have been met."
The JCVI also recommended booster doses be offered to:
• Children aged aged 16 and 17 (the JCVI recommended they be allowed a second dose last month), external
• Children aged 12 to 15 if they are in an at-risk group or live with someone who is immunosuppressed
• Children aged 12 to 15 who have a severely weakened immune system should get four doses