No need to Panick

Meanwhile, the doctor who discovered the Omicron variant said the UK is “panicking unnecessarily” when asked on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told the programme she first encountered the variant in a man in his early 30s who presented with tiredness and a mild headache, but none of the usual coronavirus symptoms.

She said: “What we are seeing clinically in South Africa, and remember I’m at the epicentre - that’s where I’m practising - it’s extremely mild.”

When asked if the UK was “panicking unnecessarily”, she said: “I think you already have it there in your country and you’re not knowing it, and I would say, yes, at this stage I would say, definitely.