Omicron May Have Peaked In London – Other Regions To Follow Soon, Expert Says

One in 15 Londoners are estimated to have had Covid in the week before Christmas (EPA)

- Lamiat Sabin

The wave of Omicron cases of Covid may have reached its peak in London, an expert has said as numbers of confirmed daily cases of the variant have reportedly dropped by more than a quarter in the city.

Professor Neil Ferguson said he was “cautiously optimistic” that there were signs that the most-infectious strain of Covid so far is beginning to “plateau” in the capital. He added that other regions of the UK would see similar reductions in new Omicron cases by the end of January.

But Prof Ferguson urged caution, saying the numbers of Omicron cases in Londoners over 50 years old “are not falling in the same way”. He told the BBC Today programme: “I think I’m cautiously optimistic that infection rates in London in that key 18-50 age group, which has been driving the Omicron epidemic, may possibly have plateaued, it’s too early to say whether they’re going down yet.”

“I would say that with an epidemic which has been spreading so quickly and reaching such high numbers, it can’t sustain those numbers forever, so we would expect to see case numbers start to come down in the next week, maybe already coming down in London, but in other regions a week to three weeks,” he added.