Boris Johnson it set to address the country tonight on Coronavirus and the booster rollout, as the UK's threat level was raised.
It comes as the country has had its Coronavirus Alert Level raised from Level 3 to Level 4 this afternoon, December 12.
The Prime Minister will give a Covid update at 8pm from Downing Street, which is expected to focus on ramping up the booster rollout, according to the Mirror.
The message – which PA news agency understands will not see new restrictions announced – will be pre-recorded, meaning the Prime Minister will be able to avoid answering questions about suggestions he broke coronavirus rules by attending a virtual Downing Street staff Christmas quiz last December.
READ MORE: All UK adults set to be offered Covid booster vaccine to tackle Omicron variant.
The UK Covid Alert Level has been increased "in light of the rapid increase in Omicron cases", the four UK chief medical officers said in a joint statement.
The statement said: "Early evidence shows that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta and that vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced.
"Data on severity will become clearer over the coming weeks but hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly."
And Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi also confirmed there are 'cases in hospital with Omicron' as cases continue to soar.
He told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme: “We’ve been able to test people who are in hospital over the past two weeks, and so there is a lag to hospitalisation.”
The Government said, as of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 48,854 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.
It also said a further 52 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 171,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
More to follow this evening.
