At least partially. but there s more positive news on the impact of boosters on omicron. a preliminary uk study suggests they may be as much as 85% effective in preventing people needing hospital treatment. hugh pym, bbc news. in the last few minutes, ireland has also announced tighter restrictions until the end ofjanuary, including bars and restaurants, where she will have to close by apn. they will have to close by apn. they will have to close by apn. they will have to close by hpn. the government s latest coronavirus figures for the uk show there were 93,045 new infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period. that s the highest daily figure recorded so far in the pandemic. on average, 68,176 cases were reported per day in the last week. 7,611 people were in hospital with covid as of yesterday. there were 111 deaths of people who died within 28 days of a positive test, which means the average number of deaths over the past seven days was 113. the total number of people who