(Bloomberg) — The U.K. confirmed 1,239 new omicron cases on Sunday, almost double the 633 cases reported the day before.
Total cases of the latest variant now stand at 3,137, the U.K. Health Security Agency said on Twitter. The spike comes as the country plans to introduce new daily home testing for people who come into contact with someone who has contracted Covid-19.
The government said that fully vaccinated people who come into contact with a Covid-19 case from Tuesday should take a rapid lateral flow test every day for seven days to help slow the spread of the omicron variant.
Omicron is to become the dominant strain by mid-December, the government said. Unvaccinated adults must continue to isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with a case.
Almost all the omicron cases are in England, the health agency said. More than 10.7 million people in the U.K. have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, including just over 54,000 on Saturday.
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