UK's Omicron wave continues to grow as cases jump 6% to breach 50k for the ...

Covid cases jumped 6 per cent today, breaching 50,000 for the fourth time in a week, as Omicron's grip on the UK continues to tighten.

Government figures show there were 51,342 new positive tests over the last 24 hours, up 6.1 per cent on last Wednesday's 48,374 and comes as the country stares down the barrel of tighter pandemic restrictions.   

While only 568 cases of Omicron have been detected in the UK so far this is likely because only a fraction of cases are analysed, with both experts and officials believing the real toll of the variant is much higher. 

Hospitlisations have also increased by a small amount, 3.3 per cent, with the latest figures showing there were 729 admissions as of December 4, an increase of 23 compared to the previous Saturday.

Deaths have taken a tumble however, with the number of lives lost to Covid, falling 5.8 per cent to 161, compared to last week.

SAGE has warned ministers that Omicron hospital admissions could breach 1,000 a day in England by the end of the year without tougher restrictions to stem the spread of the super-mutant Covid variant.

In a move that could bounce No10 into activating its winter 'Plan B', the expert panel said it is 'highly likely' Omicron will make up the majority of British infections within 'a few weeks' and put 'unsustainable pressure' on the NHS.

Leaked minutes from SAGE's emergency meeting today showed that the group also expect the highly-evolved strain to trigger several thousand admissions per day at a peak in January if it is allowed to spread unchecked. 

The 'Covid O' Cabinet committee has met for crunch talks this afternoon and Boris Johnson is expected to sign off on plans for a blanket order to work from home where possible, more mask-wearing, vaccine passports and stricter isolation rules for close contacts of infected people either today or tomorrow.  

There is growing pressure on the Government to tighten restrictions after the total number of British Omicron cases rose to 568 today, with the highly evolved variant now in every country in the UK and almost every region of England.  

Experts warn thousands of cases are flying under the radar because not all samples are analysed for variants and Omicron is estimated to be doubling every two or three days — much faster than when Delta exploded on the scene.

There are currently 757 daily hospital admissions across the UK and 680 in England. SAGE members had previously suggested that 1,200 daily admissions would be the trigger point for more restrictions with Delta.

Not a single one of the UK's confirmed Omicron cases has been hospitalised with the virus but it takes several weeks to fall seriously unwell and there are early indications in South Africa that it might cause milder illness than past variants.

But even if the new strain is milder, experts warn that if it can infect significantly more people than Delta, it will cause bigger surges in hospital admissions than its predecessor. 

In the leaked SAGE minutes, seen by the BBC, the group said: 'With the speed of growth seen, decision makers will need to consider response measures urgently to reduce transmission if the aim is to reduce the likelihood of unsustainable pressure on the NHS.'

The scientists insisted that tightening restrictions will give the UK precious time to delay the wave and get more boosters into arms. They said they expect jabs to hold up against severe disease and death.

Earlier, Professor Neil Ferguson, a key SAGE member whose modelling prompted the initial lockdown last spring, today admitted that another full-blown shutdown could be on the cards to tackle Omicron.

He said light measures like WFH 'wouldn't stop it but it could slow it down' and extend the doubling time to five or six days. 'That doesn't seem like a lot, but it actually is potentially a lot in terms of allowing us to characterise this virus better and boost population immunity,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.   

Attorney General Suella Braverman was seen going into the building this morning, although it is not clear whether her visit is related. 

Mr Javid also entered, ignoring questions about why he ducked interviews.

Conservative MPs have been turning on the premier, with demands for him to provide an 'explanation' and even warnings that misleading parliament on what happened will be a 'resigning matter'. Baroness Warsi, a former Cabinet minister turned critic, said 'every minister, parliamentarian and staffer' at the alleged party 'must resign now'. 

One government source told MailOnline that the situation was an 'absolute joke'. 'A friend said to me ''you look like a bunch of c***s''. It was hard to argue.' 

BBC Breakfast took the extraordinary step of empty-chairing Mr Javid this morning as vaccines minister Maggie Throup also pulled out of her planned round of regional television interviews. On ITV's Good Morning Britain, host Susanna Reid swiped that the government was 'gaslighting' by pretending there is not any need to answer questions.  

The footage of Ms Stratton was filmed on December 22 last year – four days after the alleged 'boozy' party and when London was under strict Tier 3 coronavirus curbs. The revelation follows a week of tortured denials from No 10 that there was a 'party' - even

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