UK Covid cases have increased by more than 40,000 for a third day in a row.
A further 40,941 cases have been announced today, with 150 fatalities.
This compares with 38,351 coronavirus infections and 157 deaths last Saturday.
It comes as Europe faces a potential Christmas lockdown as leaders scramble to try and thwart rising Covid infections and deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the continent is at the epicentre of the pandemic.
A statement by the body's regional director for Europe earlier this month said the current situation was "alarming".
And, in the last few weeks, it appears as if the continent's plight has got worse - forcing some politicians to act.
Austria will go back into a full lockdown from Monday, with Germany believed to be on the brink of following suit.
It will become the first country in western Europe to reintroduce measures.
This means non-essential shops are set to close and Austrians have been ordered to work from home.
People will also be legally required to be double jabbed by February 1, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday.
The restrictions will be in force until December, but will be reassessed after 10 days, authorities said.
In the UK though, Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to introduction tougher measures despite daily infections above 30,000.
He has yet to rule out a Christmas lockdown but according to reports is hoping that the Covid booster programme will help precent further restrictions.
A government source told The Times: It absolutely underlines how crucial the booster programme is to get us through the winter.
"There's a lot of uncertainty out there but the thing we know with most certainty is that getting boosters rolled out is the best thing we can do."
Meanwhile, King's College genetic epidemiology Professor Tim Spector warned Brits to be prepared for Covid to cause major problems for the next five years.
The lead scientist on the Zoe Covid Study app says experts now have a better understanding of the virus than last year.
Scientists in 2020 were mainly concerned about getting to the end of the year, but can now take a view into the future.
Prof Spector said: "And that's clearly turning out not to be the case, as we realise that just vaccines alone, even in countries that have got higher vaccination rates than ours, are not the final solution to this.
"But we need a combination of measures.
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"We need to extend the vaccination programme to include three shots.
"We also need to realise there will be breakthrough infections that are real, we now know that vaccinated people can still transmit the virus, and that is going to be running through our populations to some degree.
"How high we want those rates to be is highly determined by our complacency and our relaxation of some of the rules that we had in place, that last year I thought we're actually over the top, and now this year, I think insufficient."
