we are able to do that and that is because such a huge proportion of the british public have come forward to get vaccinated, and particularly to get vaccinated, and particularly to get vaccinated, and particularly to get boosted. we have done about 32.5 million, may more, boosterjabs now. it is allowing us to go ahead with new year in the cautious way that we are. but i cannot stress too much how vital it is for everybody to get that boosterjab. particularly the 2.4 million people who have had twojobs, but particularly the 2.4 million people who have had two jobs, but haven t yet had their booster. they had two jobs more than six or seven months ago, so they are eligible for their booster, but they are not coming forward. come forward and get your booster, it is a fantastic thing to do and it makes a huge amount of difference to you, it protects you. i am sorry to say this, but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive
and uk pharmacies are warning that people are turning up to request lateral flow tests roughly every five minutes and often cannot get one due to low supplies. the government booking portal shows there has also been a shortage of pcr tests in england today. more on all that but first lets listen to what the prime minister had to say. the omicron variant continues to cause real problems. we re seeing cases rising in hospitals, but it is obviously milder than the delta variant and we re able to proceed in the way that we are. but there s one reason and one reason only why we re able to do that, and that s because such a huge proportion of the british public have come forward to get vaccinated and, particularly, to get boosted. and we ve done about 32.5 million, maybe more, boosterjabs now
as i say, we believe it s the right thing to do at present to stick with the self isolation period as it currently is, so that is seven days. and, as i say, we ve only just made the change to bring it down from ten, so we want to make sure that is working as we would expect it to be. the key point, i think, to really stress here is to encourage everybody to get their boosterjabs. that is the main widespread way that we are going to be able to all get through this. as i understand it, over 32.5 million people are now boosted, which is great progress. so more of that will help us see our way through all of these types of problems. 0ne one of the things with this amount of testing is the shortage of lateral flow tests that some people have experienced. are we seeing any resolution? ., , ., resolution? again the message we are caettin from resolution? again the message we are getting from the resolution? again the message we are getting from the government - resolution? again the messa
meaning on average there were over 11a,000 cases reported per day in the last week. 18 deaths were recorded, that s of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. and 84 covid related deaths were recorded on average every day in the past week. 0n vaccinations, just over 400,000 boosters were adminstered, on average, every day in the past week bringing the total to more than 32.5 million. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster tonight. all the uk nations say they re watching and responding to the data but coming to different conclusions. and not for the first time during the pandemic there is a contrast between the approach of the government at westminster for england and the devolved administrations around the uk and there seems to be a cautious confidence in downing street that they will be able to hold off imposing similar measures that are now in place in scotland, wales and northern ireland. ministers say they
infected. , of it, staff are also getting infected- infected. it is clear as it is circulating infected. it is clear as it is circulating significantly . infected. it is clear as it is - circulating significantly amongst the community and of course it will be circulating amongst nhs staff and now we having to redeploy staff to fill the gaps being left in critical and essential services by those who are off with covid related absences. along with vaccination the government in england is urging people to remain cautious and impossible to celebrate outside on the receive. it will assess whether more restrictions are injanuary. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. well, let s look at the latest government data now. some of the figures are still being affected by delays over the holiday period, and some data has not yet been published. there were 129,101 new infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period. 18 deaths were recorded, that s of people who died within 28 days of a positive test. 0n