ourselves. reporter: now, omicron, of course, is surging throughout the country, but so is the booster shot program. 55% of eligible people in this country have gotten their booster shot already. they are giving them out at a rate of almost a million per day. and the clinics are going to stay open throughout the holidays as well. the concern now, though, is the sheer volume of cases of omicron could still put serious pressure on the health system. kim, lately, the number of health care workers calling in sick, especially here in london which is the omicron epicenter of the uk, that certainly will not help things either. very troubling there. all right. so, let s go to you, barbie, and start with germany. while huge protests were going on against restrictions, the country saw its first omicron-related death. reporter: that s right. germany has been the epicenter of this latest wave. they were delta cases, not omicron cases. you mentioned 5,000 people took
omicron epicenter of this country. it also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. part of the concern is even if omicron is less severe, and studies suggest many my accounts it is, you could still have such a high number of cases that you ll end up with pressure on the health care system. perhaps the more pressing concern, though, right now is if you look at the number of health care workers who are calling in sick. take the end of november, for instance. in london, there are about 1,000 health care workers calling in sick that day. fast forward to a week ago. that number had almost quadrupled, almost 4,000 health care workers in london calling out sick because of the coronavirus alone. you re starting to see new restrictions piling up. in scotland in wales in london. they ve canceled the new year s eve celebrations, some premier league league games have been canceled. but there s not really action from the british government to
england, would probably tell you there would only be restrictions if we start to see a dramatic rise in hospitalizations, because that s sort of the key metric that they re keeping an eye on right now. they re more consent to sort of let cases rise, and they are rising at a pretty incredible, frightening pace right now. you mentioned a record on christmas eve. the latest government estimates are that 1 in 35 people in england have the virus. that s 1 in 20 in london. the sort of omicron epicenter. while across the country, hospitalizations are maybe starting to tick up ever so slightly, they are not matching, not even close to matching the huge spike in cases. so keep an eye on the hospitalizations. keep an eye on the deaths as well. i think the government from this standpoint, at this point, feels pretty confident, given omicron is significantly less severe than delta, richard. so what happens next? the numbers are up. hospitalizations are higher but not dramatically so.
omicron is already spreading wildly in the uk. cnn s scott mcclain is in london for us. reporter: wolf, the uk just recorded its second highest number of new infections is, but the prime minister has decided not to put new restrictions in place before christmas. despite government scientists urging him to take action to prevent near record high hospital admissions. johnson met with his cabinet today and acknowledged that omicron is surging across the country and now hospitalizations are rising quickly in london. that s the omicron epicenter. health officials are planning to treat some covid patients at home to free up bed spaces. and the head of the health service in england says one in five health workers in london could be out sick with the virus by christmas. the good news is that the uk is putting booster shots into arms at a record pace, just not faster than omicron, which is spreading exponentially. wolf? scott mcclain in london,
Omicron scare: Experts give clarity over breathlessness, chances of death due to new COVID-19 strain - According to the report, most of the patients admitted to the COVID-19 ward did not require oxygen, as was seen in the previous wave.