British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Monday, confirmed the death of one patient with the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Johnson said the new variant was also resulting in hospital admissions and the “best thing” people could do was get their booster jab.
Johnson said people needed to recognise “the sheer pace at which [Omicron] accelerates through the population”.
While visiting a vaccination clinic in London, Johnson said people should forget the idea Omicron was a milder variant.
Already, the PM on Sunday asked all adults in England to get a booster by the end of the month.
The NHS website crashed on Monday after more than 110,000 people tried to book their booster before 09:00 GMT, the government said.
There have also been long queues at walk-in centres and new orders for lateral flow tests on the government website have been temporarily suspended due to high demand, according to BBC.
The prime minister said there were still “ample supplies” of tests for people to collect from pharmacies.
From Tuesday, people who are fully vaccinated will be advised to take daily tests if they are identified as a contact of someone who has Covid.
Online bookings for boosters opened for over-30s on Monday, while 18 to 29-year-old will be able to book online from Wednesday. Over-18s can now also get their booster at some walk-in centres in England – as long as it has been three months since their second dose.
On Monday, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed 10 people had been admitted to hospital in England with the Omicron variant.
Their ages ranged from 18 to 85 years old and the majority had received two doses of a Covid vaccination, the agency said.
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