The UK has hit a new daily record of Covid-19 cases with 189,846 reported in the latest 24-hour period, up more than 600 on the previous day.
A further 203 people have also died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid.
The latest official figures have come after a virologist predicted regular boosters may be needed to maintain sufficient levels of immunity to fight off Covid through 2022.
Professor Andrew Easton, of the University of Warwick, said while any new curbs to tackle the spread of the virus would likely be short-lived, the vaccine programme is probably here to stay.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “I think it’s very likely the protection offered by boosters is going to be short lived. We’re in a situation now where getting regular vaccines will be what allows us to go about our normal lives.”
Elsewhere, an estimated 2.3 million people in the UK had Covid-19 in the week ending 23 December, up from 1.4 million in the week to 1 December, which was the highest number since autumn 2020, the Office for National Statistics said.
Future variants could be tackled with ‘much greater certainty’, says expert made CBE
Scientists should be able to deal with future variants of Covid-19 with “much greater certainty” and vaccines might eventually give protection against some common colds, an expert honoured for his work has said.
Professor Peter Openshaw said “vast” knowledge had been gained since the coronavirus pandemic hit as to how to treat people with respiratory viruses, describing the past two years as a “very intensive period”.
The professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London has been made a CBE for services to medicine and immunology in the New Year Honours.
The past president of the British Society for Immunology described the emergence of the Omicron variant as “a very significant development” in the pandemic by “causing more of a sort of common cold-like syndrome”, but he cautioned that it is “still causing a very significant amount of serious lower respiratory tract and systemic disease”.
He added: “Whether there will be another variant or whether this is going to be an opportunity to really see the end of it, I don’t know. I slightly suspect that there will be future variants, but I think with all that we’ve learned now about vaccinology, the immune response and how to treat Covid-19 we actually should be able to deal with future variants with much greater certainty.”
France faces ‘difficult’ weeks ahead, says Emmanuel Macron as country reports more than 230,000 cases
French president Emmanuel Macron has said the next few weeks will be difficult as the country heads into subdued new year celebrations after registering 232,200 new Covid cases over the last 24 hours, its highest-ever recorded total.
“The weeks to come will be difficult, we all know that”, he said in a broadcast new Year’s eve address.
New infections over the last 24 hours were above 200,000 for the third day running, making France one of the epicentres as a wave of infections linked to the Omicron variant sweeps across Europe.
Infections in France, one of the countries carrying out widespread testing, stood well above the tally recorded in Italy and the UK, which also reported new records on Friday.
Revellers enjoy New Year’s Eve celebrations
Revellers have been out enjoying New Year’s Eve celebrations across the UK this evening, including in Liverpool, London and Edinburgh.
Restrictions vary across the UK, but there are none affecting the festivities in England.
London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks are going ahead tonight after previously being cancelled, however people are being urged to watch the display on their TV screens rather than heading down in person this year.
New year revellers urged to ‘behave responsibly’
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, asked the public to “behave responsibly” and encouraged new year partygoers to take a test and “avoid taking unnecessary risks”, while also voicing support for the call for NHS workers to be prioritised for coronavirus testing.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “If we have the lateral flow tests, then people can get back to work earlier and that is vital for NHS workers and other essential workers, so yes, I would absolutely prioritise those workers because, without them, really important systems are in danger of grinding to a halt.”
Next few weeks will be ‘pretty tough’ for health service, says NHS boss
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said it was looking “pretty tough” for the health service over the coming weeks due to the rising number of Covid infections and hospital admissions.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “We must not underestimate the dangers we face over the next few weeks.
“The health service is always under a lot of pressure in winter, the middle of January is normally the very most busy time, and we are facing that time with this twin challenge of rising numbers of people coming into hospital, we’re getting on for a doubling of the number of people in hospital over the last two or three weeks, and also this very high rate of staff absence as a consequence of staff having the virus.
“So getting through the next few weeks is going to be pretty tough.”
UK daily Covid cases could be closer to 500,000, says expert
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a leading statistician, said the UK’s daily Covid-19 cases could be closer to 500,000.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) adviser told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “The case data that has just come out today shows around about 190,000 (new cases) but even that we should take with a pinch of salt because we don’t actually count reinfections… and testing is limited – people are finding it more difficult to find tests – so normally the number of cases are around half the number of infections, so we could be talking about half a million new infections per day.
“This is a huge unprecedented wave of infection and very daunting. It does look encouraging that London cases look like they may have peaked.”
The Cambridge University academic added that, while hospital admissions are around a third of what they were at the same time last year, they are “rising fast and will continue to do so as older cases are now rising”.
