More than 10,000 additional confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been reported across the UK.
There were 10,059 UK Omicron cases and the number of deaths of people with the new variant in England has risen to seven from one.
Official figures show that the number of confirmed Omicron cases in England increased by 9,427 on the previous day.
The number of cases in Northern Ireland increased.
In Scotland, the number of cases has increased by 96, and in Wales, the number has increased by 22.
Hospital admissions for people with confirmed or suspected Omicron went from 65 to 85.
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The mayor of London declared a major incident to help the hospitals.
London declared a major incident to help covide hit-hospitals.
A leading government adviser said the most effective way to stop the spread of Omicron would be to have a circuit-breaker lock down before Christmas.
Stephen Reicher, professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said that Plan B alone would not be enough to stop the number of cases.
Reicher told Times Radio that the time to act was now.
There are reports that officials are drawing up plans for a two-week circuit-breaker after Christmas.
Reicher said that the only way to have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts.
A circuit-breaker is the most effective way of diminishing contact.
It is probably too late to have it after Christmas, and we will have had a huge surge of infections with all the impact upon society.
We don't want to close down when people say that. Things are closing down because of the spread of infections.
I think we need to act now.
