Covid: Omicron spreading in the community, Javid confirms

There is community transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant in multiple regions of England, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed.

He told MPs the variant was continuing to spread "here and around the world" and there were now cases here "with no links to international travel".

There have been 336 confirmed cases of the highly-mutated variant across the UK, he said, a rise of 90 from Sunday.

There are concerns about how Omicron could interact with current vaccines.

Of the confirmed Omicron cases, 261 were in England, 71 in Scotland and four in Wales - while Northern Ireland is yet to have a confirmed case.

Mr Javid said that as far as he was aware none of those people had been admitted to hospital.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously said the variant was spreading in the community after a number of cases were linked to events including a Steps concert in Glasgow.

Health officials also said last week there was a suggestion of "a small amount" of community transmission in the UK.

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Mr Javid said he could not guarantee the variant would not "knock us off our road to recovery", and the window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for Omicron.

He said the government did not have a "complete picture" of whether the variant caused more severe disease or not, or how it interacted with current vaccines.

Since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the government has reintroduced the requirement for face coverings to be worn on public transport and in shops, and has planned to expand the rollout of booster vaccinations.

The health secretary said 10,000 vaccinators were being recruited to bolster the booster jabs programme because "when the virus adapts, we must adapt too".

He said 350 military personnel would be deployed in England to help give boosters, and more than 100 in Scotland.

Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting called for the government to introduce a "standard response" to future variants emerging from overseas, including stronger border controls, testing and contact-tracing.

The UK has put restrictions on travel from countries in Africa, with Nigeria becoming the 11th country added to the red list. At the weekend, the government said the majority of Omicron cases identified in England thus far had links to overseas travel from South Africa and Nigeria.

Mr Javid said at least 21 Omicron cases in England were linked to travel from Nigeria.

He expects the number of hotel rooms available to international travellers for quarantine to double this week - after issues for those returning to the UK amid a spike in demand.

Travel restrictions - which slow the influx of new cases - make the biggest difference when there is little Omicron in the country.

Yet scientists have warned Omicron could overtake Delta to become the dominant variant within the next few weeks as it is already spreading here.

The shorter gap between catching the virus and passing it on was used as the justification for pre-departure testing.

But that difference in infectiousness will also accelerate the spread of Omicron that is already here.

All the restrictions can do is buy time to understand what Omicron is capable of.

It could still take weeks to understand how severe the variant is and what it means for the effectiveness of vaccines.

From 04:00 GMT on Tuesday, everyone travelling to the UK will need to take a Covid test before their journey - as well as a test after they arrive.

People who have come into contact with a suspected Omicron case are required to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated or not.

Mr Javid said he believed the UK Health Security Agency was carrying out roughly 500,000 tests a day and testing capacity was increasing.

Earlier Prof Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, warned the new variant could be spreading faster than the currently dominant Delta variant and would probably start to overtake Delta within the next few weeks.

He said the big question was how severe Covid from the Omicron variant was.

On Monday, a further 51,459 cases of Covid were reported, along with 41 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

More than 20.5 million booster or third doses have been delivered, as of Sunday, after a further 290,165 were given.

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