A further 78,610 people tested positive for Covid-19, a rise of nearly 20,000 on the day before.
Image source, PA Media
The UK has recorded the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 78,610 new cases on Wednesday.
The previous record was 68,053 on 8 January – when the UK was in lockdown.
The head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, earlier warned the Omicron variant is “probably the most significant threat” since the pandemic began.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to hold a press conference at 17:00 GMT.
Cases have risen by nearly 20,000 in one day – on Tuesday, 59,610 confirmed cases were confirmed by the government.
The jump in cases follows the introduction of new measures in recent days, with mandatory face masks in most indoor settings and Covid passes for large events in England.
Also on Wednesday, the UK gave out 656,711 booster or third doses of a vaccine – up by over 140,000 on the day before.
There were 165 deaths of people who tested positive for Covid in the previous 28 days.
Health officials have been clear we should expect cases to surge because of the Omicron variant.
In just a few weeks the variant has been spreading quickly.
By the weekend it was thought to account for nearly a quarter of cases.
And with Omicron infections doubling every two days it was only a matter of time before it began to drive up overall infection levels.
These numbers are only going to go up from here as both Delta and Omicron circulate.
What is not clear is what it means for serious illness.
There are suggestions it is causing milder illness. There is logic to that – reinfections or infections post vaccination are likely to be milder.
But if infections continue to rise as quickly as they are that will push up hospital admissions.
Left unchecked, the peak will come quickly with modelling suggesting it could range between just over 2,000 a day to more than 6,000 in England alone.
Last winter it topped out at 3,700.
Concerns over the speed at which the Omicron variant is spreading in the UK have been expressed by scientists and government advisers.
Dr Jenny Harries, speaking to MPs in the Transport Select Committee, also said the doubling time of variant case numbers is now under two days in most of the UK.
However, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government believes England’s Plan B Covid measures “will see us through to the new year”.