British prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the media at 10 Downing Street.
The U.K. reported a record number of Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.
The previous high of 68,053 cases was reported on January 8.
The surge in infections that the country is seeing ahead of the Christmas holiday period with the omicron variant expected to quickly become the dominant strain is underscored by this. There could be a lot of numbers in the next few days.
Long lines have been seen outside vaccination centers in the U.K. as the government tries to get a third vaccine shot to as many people as possible.
There were 165 Covid deaths in the U.K. on Wednesday. Health experts have warned that the omicron variant could lead to more deaths and an overwhelmed health-care system because of the high number of infections.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the U.K., said on Monday that at least one patient had died from the omicron variant. It was the first confirmed death from the new strain.
The England will offer all adults a third dose of the vaccine by the end of the year, after Johnson warned that Britain faces a "tidal wave" of omicron infections. The booster scheme was supposed to be extended to all over-18s by the end of January.
Almost 25 million people have had a booster shot of the vaccine.
The U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that omicron was spreading at a rapid rate and cases were doubling every few days.
Please check back later for more on this breaking news story.
