Boris Johnson is holding a press conference at Downing Street this afternoon following the return of Covid measures to tackle the Omicron variant.
The Prime Minister will speak after face masks became compulsory on public transport and in shops in England.
Scientists have so far found 14 cases of the super-mutated strain in the UK, but more are expected to follow.
The new measures include UK arrivals taking PCR tests, while adults aged 18 and over will be offered booster jabs much sooner.
Health minister Gillian Keegan faced questions this morning amid fears of last year’s ‘cancelled’ Christmas repeating itself.
She said the Government is ‘hoping we can keep Christmas on track’, adding the situation is very different following the vaccine rollout.
Ms Keegan also said the chances of having to isolate over Christmas were ‘pretty low’.
Meanwhile, health officials are scrambling to establish where the clusters originated and find any individuals who’ve come into contact with those infected.
There is growing concern over the new strain, which experts fear may be more infectious than Delta, and could potentially be resistant to vaccines.
Scientists are desperately gathering data before confirming if those suspicions are true, as governments around the world enforce precautionary restrictions.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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