No Shutdown! Boris: We Can ‘Ride Out' Omicron Surge

Britain can “ride out” the Omicron wave without the need of yet another lockdown, Boris Johnson maintains.

- Macer Hall

As the highly-infectious Covid variant hit a new high, the PM insisted there was no need to “shut down our country once again”.

He also revealed the NHS was “on a war footing” with the virus – as the daily Covid infection rate reached a record 218,724 cases.

On Monday there were 157,758 new cases, meaning a jump of 60,966 in just one day. There were also 48 deaths recorded in the UK yesterday, up from 42 on Monday.

Other figures released yesterday from December 23 revealed that one in 25 people were thought to have Covid then.

An “army” of volunteers are stepping in to plug the holes in healthcare staffing left by absences due to the virus, Mr Johnson said.

And, repeating his call for everyone eligible to get their Covid booster jab, he said it was “absolutely crazy” that people were ending up in intensive care because they had not been vaccinated. He said: “There are still almost nine million people eligible, who haven’t had their booster.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking that as many as 90 per cent of those in intensive care with Covid have not had their booster, and over 60 per cent of those in intensive care who have Covid have not had any vaccination at all.

“People are dying needlessly because they haven’t had their jabs.”