Boris Johnson has warned hospitals will be under "considerable" pressure as covid cases continue to surge.
A further 137,583 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in England and Wales as of 9am on Sunday - as Mirror Online reports.
Data is still trickling in from the Christmas period so the extent to which the highly-transmissible Omicron variant will pile pressure on the NHS in the coming weeks is not yet clear.
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The Prime Minister said the new strain was "plainly milder" than the Delta or Alpha variant, but warned the NHS faced a tough January
He said: "I think we’ve got to recognise that the pressure on our NHS, on our hospitals, is going to be considerable in the course the next couple of weeks, and maybe more."
Mr Johnson issued the update during a visitation to a vaccination centre today and appeared to rule out going beyond the Plan B restrictions already in place.
He added: “I appreciate the pressures that our hospitals are under, I think it’s vital that we make sure that we help them by trying to contain the pandemic in the ways that I’ve set out.
“So do all the things that I’ve said, make sure we follow a Plan B, get boosted but also help the NHS with their staffing requirements, and we’re looking at what we can do to move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected.
“Don’t forget that… no matter how incredibly transmissible Omicron is – and there’s no question it really spreads very, very fast – it is different from previous variants.
“And it does seem pretty conclusively to be less severe than Delta or Alpha, and it is putting fewer people into ICU, and sadly the people who are getting into ICU are the people who aren’t boosted, so get boosted.”
MPs are due to return to the Commons on Wednesday following the Christmas recess, with the Cabinet due to meet the same day to review restrictions.
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