Britain says Omicron spreading at 'phenomenal rate'

Though Javid said there had been no deaths yet confirmed in England, he said Omicron was probably behind around 40% of infections in London and that unless the government acted then the health service could be overwhelmed. "What we now know about Omicron is that ... it's spreading at a phenomenal rate, something that we've never seen before, it's doubling every two to three days in infections," Javid told Sky News.

"That means we're facing a tidal wave of infection, we're once again in a race between the vaccine and the virus."