Here are the coronavirus morning headlines for New Year's Day 2022 as England's health secretary Sajid Javid has said that restrictions on freedom "must be an absolute last resort" and the UK must look to "live alongside" coronavirus in 2022.
He said the record-breaking Omicron wave of infection will "test the limits of finite NHS capacity even more than a typical winter" as reports suggested a work from home order in England could be in place for most of January to slow the spread of the highly-transmissible variant.
In Wales restrictions were introduced on Boxing Day and First Minister Mark Drakeford has defended Covid rules which have massively affected sporting events and hospitality venues in Wales. You can read a full interview with him here.
Government figures showed a further 189,846 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases had been recorded in the UK on Friday – another new record for daily reported cases. The infection rate in Wales also continued to rise. See cases for your area here.
But a leading statistician said the actual number of daily cases could be closer to half a million a day with the UK going into the new year in the midst of an "unprecedented wave" of infections.
Mr Javid, writing in the Daily Mail, said England had "welcomed in 2022 with some of the least restrictive measures in Europe" with the UK Government at odds with the devolved nations in choosing to keep nightclubs open and to allow hospitality to operate without further measures for new year celebrations. See how the streets of Cardiff and Swansea were deserted here and compare them to how things looked in England.
"Curbs on our freedom must be an absolute last resort and the British people rightly expect us to do everything in our power to avert them," Mr Javid continued.
"Since I came into this role six months ago I've also been acutely conscious of the enormous health, social, and economic costs of lockdowns.
"So I've been determined that we must give ourselves the best chance of living alongside the virus and avoiding strict measures in the future."
There will be big increase in hospital admissions
The Cabinet minister said the time lag between infections and hospital admissions meant it was "inevitable that we will still see a big increase" in Covid patients over the next month as he warned that, as the coronavirus crisis entered its third year, the pandemic is "still far from over".
Hospital admissions in England stand at their highest since last January with 2,370 Covid-19 patients taken in on December 29 – up 90% week-on-week. Read about the figures in Wales here.
The Daily Telegraph reported that work from home guidance, which is in place as part of England's Plan B measures and also includes widespread mask-wearing in public places and mandatory Covid passes for large events, could be set to roll on for another three weeks.
The restrictions brought in last month are set to expire six weeks after implementation, with a review after three weeks, which is expected on or close to Tuesday, January 4.
But the newspaper said the review, which it said is likely to be timed for when MPs return to Westminster on Wednesday, could see the work from home guidance remain in place into the latter half of the month.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had initially stated he wanted the measures lifted "no later than early January and possibly before".
It comes as Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a Cambridge University statistician and government adviser, said the UK's daily Covid-19 cases could be closer to 500,000 due to the testing regime being overstretched and reinfections not being counted in the UK Government data.
"This is a huge, unprecedented wave of infection and very daunting," the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) adviser told the BBC.
But Sir David said deaths were "not yet going up" and that the country could be "fairly optimistic" about avoiding the kind of pressures seen during the last winter wave.
"It looks like we are going to have a huge wave of cases and that is going to cause big disruption, in hospitals of course and other services, but in terms of translating to the very serious outcomes I think we can be fairly optimistic," said Sir David.
"Things will get worse but it will be nothing like the previous waves."
Honours for health chiefs
Wales' chief medical officer has been made a knight in the Queen's New Year honours list.
Dr Frank Atherton said it was an "honour" to have been awarded a knighthood for his integral role in Wales' fight against Covid-19.
England's chief medical officer (CMO), Professor Chris Whitty, deputy CMO Jonathan Van-Tam, and Scotland's CMO Dr Gregor Smith were also given knighthoods.
There are also damehoods for UK Health Security Agency chief Dr Jenny Harries, who is from Monmouthshire, and Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), after a year in which the threat of new variants arose and more than 130m vaccinations were administered. See the full list of honours for Wales here.
The Government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who was originally knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours list, is elevated to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
The Cabinet Office said nearly one in five (19%) of the honours are for Covid-related service.
Scientists have played a central role in keeping the public informed during briefings throughout the last year in response to Covid-19 and are being recognised for services to public health and science.
Sir Chris paid tribute to his colleagues for their work during the pandemic, saying: "The entire NHS, wider public health service, and scientists have worked tirelessly to serve their patients and the public through this ongoing pandemic.
"Almost all honours to individuals are really the recognition of extraordinary work by large numbers of people in teams and mine certainly is. I would just like to thank all UCLH colleagues for the remarkable work they are doing."
Sir Jonathan said he was "deeply humbled" by his honour, adding that serving the UK public during the pandemic had been "the greatest privilege of my professional career".
Latest infection rate for Wales
The Covid-19 infection rate in Wales continues to rise with more than 10,300 new cases of the virus recorded and infection rates increasing in every area of Wales.
On Friday the latest data from Public Health Wales, covering the 24-hour period up to 9am on December 30, showed 10,393 new cases bringing the total in Wales since the pandemic began to 632,125.
The total number of deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test has now risen to 6,667 in Wales with a further 11 fatalities since the last data was released. The figures relating to deaths covers the 24-hour period up to 9am on December 29.
This is how the infection rate has grown in Wales in December:
And how it compares to the pandemic as a whole
Read more: Huge increase in number of people in hospital with Covid in Wales
The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales, based on the seven days up to December 26, has risen to 1,190.2 from 1,092.5 cases per 100,000 population on Thursday – the highest figure at any stage of the pandemic.
Infection rates in each local authority have risen. The highest rate in Wales for the seven days from December 20 to 26 is Merthyr Tydfil, where the figure is 1,450.5, followed by Cardiff with 1,405 and Rhondda Cynon Taf with 1,383.5. The only areas where the rates are under 1,000 are Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Carmarthenshire and Powys. See cases for your area here.
Change to rules for British travellers to France
Brits can now drive through France after the country lifted its ban on transit for people travelling home to European countries.
Non-essential travel for Brits has been banned since mid-December due to fears over the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The original rules effectively created a ban on Brits attempting to return to any EU country other than France by using the Eurotunnel, Eurostar, or ferry.
That policy has now been reversed and Brits travelling through the country will not face any extra restrictions.
A UK Government spokesman said: "The French authorities have confirmed that British nationals will face no additional restrictions while travelling through the holiday period.
"British nationals who are currently in the UK, but resident in the EU, will be able to return to their home through France over the New Year period without disruption."
The ban on travel for all but essential reasons remains in place and also applies to French nationals trying to come into the country.
Those who meet the requirements and are aged over 12 must present a negative PCR or antigen test taken within 24 hours of travel.
They must also provide contact details, including where they are staying, and complete another form providing their reasons to travel.
All travellers must also complete a "sworn statement" saying they are not suffering from Covid symptoms.
Anyone who arrives in France must self-isolate for 48 hours after which time a negative PCR or antigen test is required to exit. Without a negative test the quarantine period is extended to 10 days.
People arriving by train at Gare du Nord who are not fully vaccinated will need to take another Covid test when they arrive and will have to isolate for 10 days if they test positive.
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