Case numbers are soaring around the world, with supply chains, hospitals and businesses struggling to cope.

The US is now reporting more than one million cases a day, as scientists and governments hope to reach the peak in omicron cases over coming weeks.

Doctors in the US, UK and Australia are expecting case numbers to surge even higher over the next fortnight, as testing sites come under unprecedented strain.

It comes as experts warn against continued vaccinations, and the UK government is ruling out new restrictions, for now.

WE CAN’T KEEP VACCINATING

A leading expert who helped create the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine says giving everyone in the world booster shots multiple times a year is not feasible

.”We can’t vaccinate the planet every four to six months. It’s not sustainable or affordable,”

Professor Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and head of the UK’s Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told The Daily Telegraph.

NO NEW UK RESTRICTIONS

British PM Boris Johnson says the NHS will be put on a “war footing” but he will be recommending to the cabinet that the current – plan B – level of restrictions remains in place. 

Adding that 90% of Covid patients in intensive care beds are unvaccinated.

Latest UK announcements:

• 100,000 key workers in areas like food processing and transport are to be sent lateral flow tests to use every day from 10 January
• Boris Johnson says now is the time for “utmost caution” – and anyone who thinks the battle with Covid is over is “profoundly wrong”
• But there is a chance we can “ride out this Omicron wave” without shutting the country down again, Johnson adds
• For now the PM says he wants the current, Plan B, level of restrictions to remain in England – other parts of the UK have different rules

CHINA LOCKDOWN

China has put a second city into total lockdown after just three asymptomatic Covid cases were discovered.

Yuzhou – which has a population of 1.1 million – saw its transport system shut down and all but essential food stores closed overnight.

It follows a similar lockdown in Xi’an, where 13 million have been confined to their homes since 23 December.

FOURTH BOOSTER

Israel has already begun its rollout of a fourth vaccine dose, offering it to all medical workers and people 60 and older.

 The German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says Germans “will need a fourth vaccination” against Covid-19.