Leaders of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet today amid warnings of a ‘staggering’ number of new Omicron cases.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove will chair an emergency Cobra meeting this afternoon to discuss the rapidly worsening situation.

It is after warnings that the new variant is ‘probably the most significant threat’ posed to the country since the start of the pandemic.

Representatives from the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive will join the meeting at around 5pm.

Mr Gove has often supported tougher measures to contain Covid in the past and last week warned more restrictions might be necessary due to the ‘deeply concerning situation.’

The committee is likely to discuss the latest data which shows the strain has now become dominant in London.

Some 51.8% of a sample of new coronavirus cases in the capital with specimen dates for December 11 and 12 were found to have S gene target failure (SGTF) – a way of detecting the likely presence of Omicron.

Professor Graham Medley, a Sage committee member, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he is worried ‘we could see numbers of people being admitted to hospital getting very large’ if infections continue to rise and spill into older age groups.

And, appearing in front of MPs, Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, told MPs we should expect ‘staggering’ number of cases in the next few days compared with what has gone before.

Despite the concern, ministers have so far tried to reassure people that no further restrictions will be needed in the run-up to Christmas.

On the morning media round, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the Government believe Plan B will be enough and no further restrictions are needed ‘right now.’

He told the Today that ‘we’re in a much better position to enjoy Christmas than we were last year’, adding that taking tests before gatherings is a sensible move, as well as getting boosters.

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