Daily Covid-19 cases in the UK exceed 100,000 for first time

Daily Covid-19 cases in the UK have exceeded 100,000 for the first time, the latest government figures show.

The 106,122 reported cases come as a study into the severity of Omicron is due to be released before Christmas.

A total of 8,008 people were in hospital with coronavirus as of Tuesday, the highest level since 22 November and up 4% from a week ago.

However, speaking on Tuesday, the prime minister refused to rule out introducing fresh measures after Christmas with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

There were 140 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive Covid test on Wednesday.

A record number of boosters and third doses were reported on Tuesday, with 968,665 delivered - taking the overall total to more than 30.8 million - with 6.1 million in the past week alone.

Wednesday's daily reported cases figure is the highest since mass testing began in May and June last year - the previous record of 93,045 was reported on 17 December.

The number of coronavirus cases has increased by 238,350 or 58.9% in the past seven days, compared with the previous week, while the number of daily deaths reported has decreased by 2.7% over the same period.

However hospital admissions and deaths are slower to show up in the figures, with changes generally observed after cases start to rise.

The peak of hospital admissions during the second wave earlier this year was 39,254 on 18 January.

Infections have remained at record levels in the UK in recent days, with eight of the 10 highest daily totals for reported cases coming since 15 December.

UK government vaccine advisers have recommended vulnerable children aged between five and 11 should be offered a low-dose Covid vaccine, as well as some older children getting boosters.

The other UK nations have already laid out plans for post-Christmas restrictions:

The announcements come as the prime minister faces more calls to lay out plans for England, with Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford saying the UK government was in a "state of paralysis" when he laid out new restrictions earlier.