Covid-19 Sheffield: Three Omicron cases confirmed in Sheffield as UK total passes 448

The Omicron strain was first identified in South Africa, but cases have been detected in England and Scotland as well as other parts of Europe.

And now government figures have confirmed there were three cases of the Omicron variant detected in Sheffield in the week commencing November 29.

On December 10, a total of 448 new omicron cases were confirmed in the UK, taking the total to 1,265 – including one new case in Scotland, bringing the total to 110, 443 new cases in England, bringing the total to 1,139, four more in Wales, bringing the total to 13.

There were no new cases in Northern Ireland, where the total remains 3.

The UK Health Security Agency has predicted that if current the trend continues, the UK will exceed one million infections by the end of the month.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said it was a “deeply concerning situation” after attending a Cobra meeting on Friday (December 10) to discuss the latest data.

He said that the Omicron variant was doubling every two or three days in England “and possibly even faster in Scotland”.

Analysis of Omicron by the UKHSA found that two doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines provided “much lower” levels of protection against Omicron compared with the Delta variant.

But the findings revealed that a third dose was found to give around 70 to 75% protection against symptomatic infection, with people now being urged to get their booster jab.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced new restrictions coming into force across England to halt the spread of the Omicron variant.

People are being advised to work from home where possible, face masks are required in most indoor venues, and Covid passes or proof of a negative test is needed to access large venues.

There are already rumours that restrictions could be further tightened under ‘Plan C’ should the new rules not prove sufficient.

Daily Covid case numbers have reached their highest level since January.

As of 9 am on Friday, there were a further 58,194 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK.