The UK has recorded the highest daily total of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic began as the Omicron variant continues to spread.
Official figures show there had been 78,610 new cases recorded as of 9am on Wednesday, December 15. It is the highest figure announced since mass testing began in the summer of 2020.
The previous record was 68,053 on 8 January this year - when the UK was in lockdown.
Read more: Live updates as Boris Johnson makes statement as Covid cases spike
The head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, earlier warned the Omicron variant is "probably the most significant threat" since the pandemic began.
Cases have risen by nearly 20,000 in one day - on Tuesday, 59,610 confirmed cases were confirmed by the government.
The number of Omicron cases in Wales has almost doubled in 24-hours with more than 60 cases of the variant now confirmed across the country.
Public Health Wales announced on Wednesday, December 15 that there were 30 more cases of the mutant strain to bring the total to 62. It is up from 32 on Tuesday.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has the most with 23, while Betsi Cadwaladr UHB is the only other health board in double figures (10).
Dr Meng Khaw, national director for health protection and screening services for Public Health Wales, said: "Public Health Wales is today (Wednesday, December 15) confirming 30 new cases of Omicron variant in Wales, bringing us to a total of 62 cases.
"Part of the increase today is linked to a change in case definition agreed across the UK, as cases previously identified as highly probable are now classed as confirmed by genotyping. However, as we have indicated previously, a rapid increase over the coming days and weeks is expected."
It is understood Cabinet members are meeting this week to decide whether to introduce more restrictions in the run-up to Christmas Day. An announcement from First Minister Mark Drakeford is expected on Friday.
For now, the government's main aim is to offer all eligible adults a booster vaccine by the end of December in a bid to limit the harm caused by Omicron.
"We have been working with health boards since the weekend to make changes to the vaccination programme to go further and faster," said Health Minister Eluned Morgan on Tuesday.
"This will mean the focus of the NHS will need to shift towards vaccinating people for a short time. The NHS will continue to provide essential services, emergency and urgent care.
"But we will be redeploying all available clinical staff to vaccination centres."
She added: "We'll be looking at expanding existing opening hours – centres are already open from 9am to 8pm.
"This will mean asking NHS staff to vaccinate from early in the morning to late into the night to make sure as many people as possible have the extra protection the booster dose offers."
Dr Gill Richardson, who is in charge of the vaccination effort in Wales, warned that both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines may offer "much lower" levels of protection against symptomatic infection compared to the protection they provide against the Delta variant.
"Two doses of the vaccine is not enough to protect us against omicron. We all need a booster dose to increase our protection against the virus," she said.
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