Two New Cases Of Omicron Variant have Detected In London

In the wake of the new cases, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford called for a four-nations' Cobra meeting to discuss more stringent restrictions, and for the quarantine period for travellers arriving in the UK to be extended to eight days. Both requests were rejected by Downing Street.

According to report, two new cases of the omicron variant have been detected in London, taking the UK's current total to 11.

One case was located in Camden and the other in Wandsworth. Both have travel links to southern Africa.

The new infections come after six cases were found in Scotland on Monday morning, some of which were not linked to international travel.

Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of UKHSA, said: "It is very likely that we will find more cases over the coming days as we are seeing in other countries globally and as we increase case detection through focused contact tracing."

The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) also made key announcements regarding the booster vaccination programme, extending third jabs to everyone over the age of 18 and reducing the permitted time between second and third doses to three months.

That's all for today

Good evening. Here are today's major coronavirus developments...

There have been five cases of the new omicron variant in England, and six in Scotland, according to Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine are now available for all over-18 year olds in the UK, and people can get them three months after their second dose, rather than six, after a new ruling from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has urged people to get a coronavirus test before meeting anyone not from their household.

Vaccine manufacturer Moderna said it could take months to ship any tweaked variant-proof jab, if it is needed.

Omicron has continued to spread around the world, with new cases reported in Spain, the Netherlands and Canada, and the World Health Organization saying it poses a "very high" global risk.