PM hosts emergency Cabinet meeting to consider further Covid restrictions

The prime minister is set to host  a Cabinet meeting this afternoon to discuss possible further restrictions in light of the Omicron variant.

It has been reported that Boris Johnson will also lead a press conference later today to detail the government’s plans.

This morning deputy prime minister and justice secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News this morning that he could not make “hard and fast guarantees” over whether new restrictions would be implemented prior to 25 December.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, the government is considering three options, ranging from advice to voluntarily restrict socialising over the festive period, to tougher measures such as hospitality curfews and even a “circuit breaker” lockdown.

The latest figures show that there have were 82,886 new Covid cases yesterday and 547,606 positive cases over the past week. This is up by 187,126 from the previous week.

Over the last week 780 deaths where the person died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus have been reported, 54 up from the previous week.

7,611 patients who have tested positive for the virus are in hospital.