Boris Johnson has ruled out immediately implementing any new Covid restrictions but has said the Government reserves the “possibility of taking further action” to protect public health due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

On Monday December 20 there were 91,743 cases of Covid-19, 8,044 of which were the Omicron variant.

The Cabinet met for a three-hour meeting this afternoon and the Prime Minister said they were monitoring the situation “hour by hour”.

“Unfortunately I must say to people that we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public, to protect public health, to protect our NHS,” he said.

“We won’t hesitate to take action.”

“Omicron has simply exploded so fast that we have seen people naturally deciding to make sure that they protect themselves and they avoid spreading the disease.

“As I said, the benefits of that course of action we may see in the next few days and weeks in the way we are able to contain the disease.

“It is important we act cautiously but it is also important we look after the hospitality industry, the theatres and other parts of our incredible entertainment industry which have suffered and are suffering.”