Omicron accounts for 20% of Covid cases in England

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It's time for us to wrap up our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Here's a recap of the main Covid stories from the day:

• The UK has reported 54,661 new infections and a further 38 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
• There are 4,713 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant and at least one person in the UK has died with the variant
• The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 10 people, aged between 18 and 85, had been hospitalised with the variant in England.
• Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs that Omicron now represented 20% of cases in England
• Javid also warned that hospitalisations and deaths were likley to "dramatically increase" in the next few weeks

• The NHS website for booking vaccinations crashed and ordering lateral flow tests from the government website was temporarily suspended amid high demand
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he "certainly broke no rules" amid questions over government parties during lockdown restrictions last Christmas
• US Open champion Emma Raducanu has had to withdraw from the Mubadala World Tennis Championships after testing positive for coronavirus

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As darkness falls the queues for booster jabs continue.

It might be warmer than usual for this time of year, but not when you’re waiting outside for four hours.

The queues at Hungerford walk-in centre have snaked around the edge of the football pitch all day.

They’re open until 19:00, but stopped accepting more walk-ins for booster jabs at 14:00, when the queue was already several hundred people long.

But even the intermittent drizzle and freezing hands didn’t seem to put anyone off.

Some told me they’d travelled from more than an hour away to come here today. They just want to get their boosters done, as soon as they possibly can.

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All day we've been hearing from people stuck in long queues at walk-in vaccination centres across the country.

They have been responding to a call to get booster jabs as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly.

This morning, we heard from Sarah-Jane who had been queueing for an hour and a half at Lewisham Hospital.

She told the BBC it was very cold in the queue but that everyone was "pretty calm".

"Someone just asked if we should start a sing-song," she says.

Then around 16:00 GMT, Sarah-Jane got in touch again to say she was still waiting but had reached number 26 in the line.

'Frustration'

Meanwhile in the West Midlands, a queue of about 200 people snaked its way around a car park and side roads at the back of the vaccination centre in Lye, near Stourbridge.

People at the front said they had waited for more than an hour to reach the entrance, with many who had booked a time slot annoyed at having to wait for that long in the same queue as walk-ins. Others with a booked slot who didn’t have the time to wait could be seen leaving the queue, expressing their frustration that there weren’t enough larger vaccination centres nearby.

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Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs earlier that Omicron now made up 20% of Covid cases in the UK and that more deaths and hospital admissions were soon expected.

PM Boris Johnson has set a new target for all adults in England to be offered a booster by the end of the month, in an effort to combat Omicron.

But this chart shows that things really need to speed up if the government is to get anywhere near that target.

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The UK is doing better than many countries in its booster drive, but is lagging behind Chile, Israel and Uruguay.

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The NHS could be forced to make difficult decisions on prioritising care ahead of a "long winter" to stop the spread of the Omicron variant, a Teesside GP says.

Dr David Hodges, who works in Stockton-on-Tees, says meeting the prime minister's target of Covid-19 booster jabs for all adults before January is ambitious.

He says: "It's achievable but only if other services are paused or if we can release staff from somewhere else, but the NHS doesn't have staff sat around doing very little - our local services are running at 100mph to get as many vaccines done as possible.

Dr Hodges says: "Unless Covid changes I can see booster vaccines becoming regular to keep our immunity primed."

MPs in the Commons will vote on "Plan B" restrictions for England tomorrow to slow the spread of Omicron.

Here's what you need to know:

Plan B: It consists of Covid passes to prove vaccination or a negative test for entry into more places; daily negative tests to replace self-isolation for double jabbed contacts of Covid cases; facemasks in most indoor settings.

The votes: There are likely to be three votes to make each of the restrictions law. The BBC estimates that about 60 Tory MPs have said they will oppose the introduction of Covid passes. But Labour says it will back the government so it's expected to go through.

The review: Boris Johnson says the Plan B rules will be reviewed in three weeks so if they become law on 14 December a review will be expected around 4 January.

The end: Plan B laws will be due to expire after six weeks which takes us to 25 January.

What next: Although Plan B has not yet passed, there is already talk that the government might need to bring further measures in England as Omicron cases rise. Johnson says he will take "whatever steps are necessary".

FYI: Working from home guidance kicks in today - but because it's not law it doesn't need a vote.

During his Commons statement, Sajid Javid says that - as long as MPs support it - people will need to show a negative lateral flow test to get into nightclubs and large venues - unless they are double vaccinated.

He adds that once all adults have had "a reasonable chance" to get the booster jab, that exemption will be changed to include those who have had their booster.

The prime minister's official spokesman has said the government is "working to improve" the NHS vaccine booking website, but he said "there have been some challenges" after many people found they were unable to make bookings on Monday.

"The service has already booked over 100,000 appointments today alone," he said.

When asked how the system would cope with making a million bookings of more each day, he added it was his "understanding" that more slots for vaccine appointments would be made available, but said details would have to be given by the NHS.

The spokesman also denied there was any shortage of rapid lateral flow tests after the government's website was suspended because of demand.

He indicated that the problem was that the number of available "slots" for the day had been reached.

Replying to Labour, Javid says there are millions of tests in stock but the "limiting factor" is the capacity to deliver them.

He says the government has reached "new arrangements" with companies including Amazon to ensure tests get delivered.

On the target, Javid says the government wants to offer adults a chance to get boosted by end of month.

"That does not mean every single person necessarily can get that booster - it requires them to come forward and taken up that offer, as well as everything else going right in this huge expansion plan," he adds.

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting says the government's vaccine target is "impossible but we applaud the ambition".

"But if anyone can do it, it is the NHS," he adds.

He also asks if the government is "rowing back on the target", arguing that on Sunday night the PM said people would have the chance to get the booster by the end of the year while the health secretary said people would be offered it by the year's end.

The "public will not accept the government moving the goalposts", he says, and urges the PM to "be straight with people".

Sajid Javid says the UK has sufficient lateral flow test "to see us through the coming weeks".

He says if anyone has trouble ordering them online they should check the website the following day or pop down to their local pharmacy and pick some up.

The health secretary says the mission to boost all adults by the end of the month comes with some "difficult trade-offs".

He says the government will be redeploying NHS staff away from non-urgent services so some apppointments may be postponed until the New Year.

Javid says a third dose of the vaccine is 70% effective at preventing symptomatic infection.

He reiterates what the prime minister said last night - specifically that the government is bringing forward its target for offering vaccines to over-18s.

He says reaching this target will require "the NHS to deliver a record number of jabs", adding that "we have the jabs, the challenge now is to get them into the arms".

Urging the public to get their booster jab, he says: "The national mission will only succeed if we all play our part".

Before Sajid Javid's statement started, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he was "surprised" the prime minister was not in the House of Commons to make the statement.

He said he was "disappointed" that the Commons had become second to television.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid begins his statement by telling MPs that the current number of daily infections are around 200,000.

He says Omicron will become the dominant variant in London in the next 48 hours and represents 20% of cases in England.

Hospitalisations and deaths are expected to "dramatically increase" in the next few weeks and the NHS will return to its highest level of emergency preparedness, he adds.

We are hearing now from the UK health secretary on Covid developments.

Sajid Javid is giving an update on the virus to the House of Commons - and MPs will be able to put questions to the minister.

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After Boris Johnson announced booster jabs would be offered to everyone over 18 in England from this week, queues have been forming outside vaccination centres.

The BBC's Alex Pope and Sarah Jenkins spoke to those lining up outside a pharmacy in Bedford.

Dawn Rodger said she was keen to get her jab "as quickly as possible so there's more chance of enjoying a family Christmas".

Laura Turpie told the BBC she was prompted to get hers done quickly after seeing a family member become "really ill" with Covid.

"He's bed-ridden and he's struggling to breathe," the 39-year-old said.

Read more here.

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ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Manchester United are in discussions with the Premier League over whether it is "safe" for Tuesday's game at Brentford to go ahead after a Covid-19 outbreak at the Old Trafford club.

Positives reported on Monday have been confirmed by PCR tests and operations at the club's Carrington training ground have been shut down for 24 hours.

The club is concerned about infection risk and disruption to preparations.

The team will not travel until a decision has been made with the league.