The omicron variant is “spreading rapidly” in the UK and could soon become the dominant Covid-19 strain, experts have warned, after case numbers surged by more than 50 per cent in a day.

The number of confirmed cases in Britain rose to 246 on Sunday, the UK Health Security Agency confirmed, a rise of 86 in 24 hours, while “hundreds” more are likely to be circulating undetected.

There were 18 new cases in Scotland, with a rapidly escalating outbreak in the west of the country and the first confirmed case in the Edinburgh area, while the remaining 68 new infections were recorded in England.

While there is still uncertainty about the transmissibility of the strain and the extent to which it could prove resistant to vaccines, scientists warned that there was growing evidence that it spread far faster than the currently dominant delta variant.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, a government scientific adviser, told the BBC the omicron variant was “highly transmissible” and was spreading “very rapidly” in South Africa. 

“The early signs are that it’s spreading pretty rapidly in the UK too,” he added. “If those trends continue then, over the course of the coming weeks and months, omicron could come to replace delta entirely, right around the world.”