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There are " cases in hospital with Omicron" in the UK, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has said.

The new variant of coronavirus now accounts for a third of cases in London, He Said .

With two doses " not enough" Mr Zahawi encouraged people to get a booster jab.

As of Saturday there have been 1,898 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the UK.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have warned that the of Omicron infections without further restrictions beyond The Plan B measures announced last week.

Mr Zahawi described the new variant as a " big bump" in The Road .

" If we get to one million infections by The End of December, Three Days later that's two million. If it's half as severe as Delta and 1% of severe infections need hospitalisation that's 10,000 people with The First million and it keeps going that way, " he told Bbc One 's Andrew Marr Show.

Dr Susan Hopkins , head of the UK Health Security Agency, said that she expected to see an increase in The Number of people hospitalised with Omicron infection.

But She Said there had not been a report of a death from it in the UK yet, although she pointed out that the variant had only been identified Two Weeks Ago - it is Two Weeks after infection that you would expect to see hospitalisations.

She Said it was " inevitable" that there was going to be a big wave of infections but what was not clear was the impact that would have on hospitals.

She Said The Sheer weight of numbers of people being infected with Omicron means it will find the unvaccinated or people who have had a poor immune response to the vaccine.

" This is a big wave coming straight at us, if we see even half the severity that we saw with Delta then We Are facing a very large number of hospitalisations and potential deaths, " She Said .

Source of news: bbc.com