Britain's Covid crisis appeared to pick up again today with cases and deaths increasing together for the first time in four days, according to Government statistics.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data show Britain recorded 48,374 new cases over the last 24 hours, up 10.8 per cent on last week's total of 43,676.
It was the first time the amount of positive tests increased week-on-week since last Friday, despite eight new cases of the supermutant Omicron variant being detected in England yesterday, bringing the UK's total to 22.
Likewise, the number of people dying with the virus increased 14.8 per cent to 171 today, up from 149 recorded last Wednesday.
But hospitalisations continued to fall, with 706 people admitted to hospital with coronavirus on Saturday, the latest date data is available for.
The figures come after Sajid Javid today admitted GPs' workload will be shifted to focus on the booster campaign in a dramatic U-turn — as fears grow that face-to-face appointments with doctors will once again take the hit.
The Health Secretary said getting third doses into people's arms to protect against the Omicron variant had become the 'new national mission', after months of strong-arming GPs into seeing more non-Covid patients in-person.
No10 last night set the target of offering more than 50million booster jabs to every adult by the end of January, which will involve massively ramping up the current drive which is barely reaching 2.5m per week.
GPs will once again be a key anchor of the vaccination programme and will be incentivised with doctors getting £15 for every jab delivered with a £5 bonus per shot delivered on Sundays and a £30 premium for jabs delivered to vulnerable people in their homes.
On another day of coronavirus chaos:
World Health Organization officials claimed most Omicron cases are 'mild' and there is no evidence the new variant has any impact on vaccine effectiveness against serious illness; Israeli health chiefs said people who get a booster Pfizer Covid vaccine or who had their second jab within six months should still be highly protected against Omicron; Travel industry chiefs slammed Sage proposals to impose compulsory quarantine on all arrivals to the UK and force them to take pre-departure Covid tests regardless of whether or not they've been vaccinated NHS Lanarkshire sent letters offering appointments to people in the most vulnerable categories with dates and times to receive their next jab; Tory MPs blasted the Government after it emerged new rules on self-isolation will be enshrined in law until March, sparking fears the curbs could remain in place far beyond a promised three week review; NHS trusts in England advised staff not to have Christmas parties this year in case they catch the Omicron variant and can't come to work.The Government data showed 393,000 adults received their third booster vaccine dose yesterday, taking the total number of people fully vaccinated against the virus to 18.6million.
Some 30,500 received their first dose, while 32,000 were given second jabs.
Asked if he would lighten the load for doctors who have complained about excess work, Mr Javid told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Yes —this is our new national mission in terms of the public health of this country there is nothing more important.
'We are working at pace with GP representatives in the last two days, in how we can free up some of their time. I won't set that out now myself, it will be set out by NHS directly.'
There are fears on what impact re-prioritisation will have on face-to-face appointments with GPs which only last month crept up to 64 per cent last month, but are massively below pre-pandemic levels.
A report by the National Audit Office last night warned that there were up to 740,000 'missing' urgent GP referrals for suspected cancers during the pandemic.
There are also concerns about the wider impact the shift could have on non-Covid care, with record A&E wait times, and heart attack and stroke patients facing average waits for an ambulance of nearly an hour.
Mr Javid himself warned last month that emergency care was being put under significant strain because patients were struggling to see GPs in person.
And when he was made Health Secretary in June, Mr Javid said addressing the NHS backlogs were his 'top priority' and insisted the country 'has to learn to live with Covid'.
The Royal College of GPs warned that 'decisions will have to be made' because family doctors cannot keep pace with current demand and juggle the massive booster jab drive.
One NHS chief executive said getting GPs to lead the vaccination rollout was 'a very big ask, on top of many other very big asks', adding it would be extremely difficult to hit the January target due to a lack of medics, volunteers and facilities.
The above graph shows how the NHS waiting list could grow up to 2025. The National Audit Office warns if 50 per cent of missing patients return and demand grows at 3.2 per cent a year then the list could surge above 12million. But should the NHS manage to increase treatments dished out by more than 10 per cent a year then the list should stabilise at 8million in 2024 before falling slightly, they suggested
The proportion of cancer patients starting treatment within a month fell to the lowest level since records began in September, latest figures show. Records were started in 2009. The health service's own standards set out that 96 per cent of people should begin treatment, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, within 30 days of it being approved
In total 18million Britons have had a booster jab so far and, after yesterday's guidance change, all 53million adults over 18 will be eligible eventually. At the current rate of 2.4million jabs per week, it would take until March to get everyone boosted
Despite the total A&E admissions in England being just two per cent more than August and equal to the number of people who came forward during the same month (October) in 2019, 7,059 patients were forced to wait more than 12 hours to be seen at A&E. The record-high figure is 40 per cent more than the 5,024 forced to wait that long one month earlier
The NHS waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has reached 5.83million, official data revealed today marking the eleventh month in a row that the figure has hit a record high. Some 1.6million more Britons were waiting for elective surgery — such as hip and keen operations — at the end of September compared to the start of the pandemic
The NHS has long struggled to meet its recommended ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents which include medical emergencies such as strokes and severe burns but the last few months months have seen unprecedented rise with patients waiting nearly an hour on average for an ambulance after calling 999
