Cases of omicron increase 50 per cent in a day

Surge in cases in Britain shows the new variant could soon become the dominant Covid-19 strain

‘If trends continue, omicron could come to replace delta entirely, right around the world’

‘The increase in cases is much steeper than it’s been in the past three waves; omicron is able to spread easily’

THE omicron variant is “spreading rapidly” in the UK and could soon become the dominant Covid-19 strain, experts have warned, after case numbers surged by more than 50 per cent in a day.

The number of confirmed cases in Britain rose to 246 yesterday, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed, a rise of 86 in 24 hours, while “hundreds” more are likely to be circulating undetected.

There were 18 new cases in Scotland, with a rapidly escalating outbreak in the west of the country and the first confirmed case in the Edinburgh area, while the remaining 68 new infections were recorded in England.

While there is still uncertainty about the transmissibility of the strain and the extent to which it could prove resistant to vaccines, scientists warned there was growing evidence that it spreads far faster than the currently dominant delta variant.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, a government scientific adviser, told the BBC the omicron variant was “highly transmissible” and was spreading “very rapidly” in South Africa.

“The early signs are that it’s spreading pretty rapidly in the UK, too,” he added. “If those trends continue then, over the course of the coming weeks and months, omicron could come to replace delta entirely, right around the world.”

Prof Woolhouse said he expected the confirmed UK figures were likely to be an underestimate, as genetic sequencing appeared to show the number of cases with S gene dropouts – a trait likely to signal omicron – were also “increasing quite fast”.

“So the absolute number of cases in the UK, I would still suspect, is more in the hundreds than in the thousands. The point is that they’re growing and they’re growing quite fast.”

While some evidence has emerged to suggest that Covid-19 illness caused by omicron could be milder, experts have warned it is too early to draw firm conclusions.

The variant was first confirmed in the UK on November 27.

It was announced at the weekend that travel restrictions for those entering the UK would be tightened, with pre-departure testing to become mandatory from tomorrow.

However, Prof Woolhouse said the new rules had come “too late” to make a “material difference” to a potential wave of the omicron variant in the UK.

Professor Willem Hanekom, the director of the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, said the virus was spreading “extraordinarily” quickly in South Africa.

“The increase in cases is much steeper than it’s been in the past three waves so it seems that omicron is able to spread very easily and virtually all the cases that we see in South Africa right now are omicron,” he said.

“The data suggests the disease may occur more in younger people, and mostly younger people who are unvaccinated, and overall so far the disease has appeared to be milder but again I want to say we have to be cautious. These are very early days.”

Nicola Sturgeon warned at the weekend that she could not rule out imposing new restrictions in Scotland, where mask rules are already tighter than in England. She warned that she was prepared to take “unpopular decisions” and added that waiting until there was a full understanding of omicron to act could prove “too late”.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a member of Sage, told Sky News: “It’s a very difficult situation because we haven’t got a lot of data yet at all, almost nothing from this country about what the risks are.

“For South Africa, there’s data coming out showing pretty strong evidence of increased risk of transmission.”