from our health reporter laura - from our health reporter laura foster. you havejust come from our health reporter laura foster. you have just come out of a briefing specifically about the new variant? in briefing specifically about the new variant? , , ., variant? in this briefing we got confirmation variant? in this briefing we got confirmation from variant? in this briefing we got confirmation from an - variant? in this briefing we got confirmation from an early - variant? in this briefing we got - confirmation from an early analysis that the vaccine is not protecting as well as we might have hoped against 0micron, but better than we feared. but the good news is that by having a booster you can really increase your protection. this analysis looked at pfizer, and oxford astrazeneca, what it found it 0xford astrazeneca, what it found it after analysing cases with 0micron and thousands of cases with delta, after looking at how effective the vaccines were against the new variant it
in the past few minutes, michael gove has been speaking after a cobra meeting with the devolved nations, where they discussed the spread of the 0micron variant. let s have a listen. so he has just so he hasjust been so he has just been talking to journalists after a meeting of that cobra meeting. let sjust hear some of what he had to say. it isa it is a deeply concerning the situation. the cobra meeting ijust shared with the first ministers of all the devolved administrations was presented with some very challenging new information. we know that we have the highest number of covid infections across the united kingdom reported today since the 9th of january, we know that the 0micron variant is doubling every two to three days in england, and possibly even faster in scotland. we know that 30% of reported cases in london are the 0micron variant and of course we only identified the variant in this country a fortnight ago. so we absolutely do need to
all bunched up with covid of course, scotland s first minister nicola sturgeon has warned that the country is facing a potential tsunami of new covid infections. she said the spread of the 0micron variant to prevent presented a very severe challenge and it is likely to overtake the delta variant, possibly as soon as next week in scotland, and she announced new restrictions to tackle the spread. from saturday, the advice is all household contacts of any confirmed covert case should isolate for ten days regardless of vaccination status, even if they get a negative pcr test. some exemptions will be made for critical services full stop non household contacts should isolate. if it is negative, they can isolate at this point as long as they are double vaccinated and nicola sturgeon said it would be sensible to defer work christmas party is given the impact and significant concerns of the 0micron covid variant. quite a lot to keep
still out there. about omicron of course, delta is still out there. still out there. yes, and delta is still out there. yes, and delta is still by far still out there. yes, and delta is still by far the still out there. yes, and delta is still by far the most still out there. yes, and delta is still by far the most variant l still by far the most variant dominant variant in the uk but we have had lots of warnings from nicola sturgeon, a tsunami of cases heading for scotland. but the estimate more than half of the cases will be 0micron by mid december because it is so transmissible. if growth continues unabated assuming no more restrictions, there will be 1 million infections by the end of the month. 1 million infections by the end of the month- 1 million infections by the end of the month. . ~ ,, , . the month. thank you very much. let us turn to that the month. thank you very much. let us turn to that headline the month. thank you very much. let us turn to that headli