British PM Boris Johnson said this is a moment for utmost caution, and anyone who thinks the battle with Covid is over is wrong.
At a Downing St briefing, he said the weeks ahead will be challenging. He again urged people to get their booster vaccinations.
But he adds that there is a “good chance” of getting through the Omicron wave without further restrictions.
It would not be “tenable” to give jabs every three to six months in the long-term, said chief scientific adviser.
The UK has recorded more than 200,000 coronavirus cases in a day for the first time.
But the 218,724 figure is affected by a backlog in reporting from Wales and Northern Ireland over the New Year.
From next week daily tests will be available for essential workers in some sectors such as food processing and the Border Force, the PM says.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says more children should have been vaccinated over the Christmas to ensure schools can stay open.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier warned of ‘tsunami’ of COVID cases in the near future. The declaration was due to Omicron spread.
The WHO further warned of the risk posed by the Omicron variant after COVID-19 case numbers shot up by 11 percent globally last week.
Omicron is behind the rapid virus spikes, the WHO said in its COVID weekly epidemiological update on Wednesday.
The update came after a number of countries reported record-high infection figures in recent days.
In some parts, the increase followed the emergence of the new Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa.
