Ten people, said Mr Javid, were in hospital in England with omicron. “At this point in time I can’t confirm a death,” he added.
By 10am, Boris Johnson was arriving at the Stow Health Vaccination Centre in Westminster, close to Downing Street. “We now want to hit warp speed,” said the Prime Minister, his sleeves rolled up and one thumb up too, ready for business.
In a side room, out of earshot of the people queueing for jabs, he told a television reporter what Mr Javid had been unable to confirm an hour or two earlier.
“Sadly, yes, omicron is producing hospitalisations and sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with omicron,” he said.
“So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that’s something we need to set on one side and just recognise the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters.”
Booster queues visible from Parliament
But anybody trying for a booster had a wait – in some cases, a very long wait. At St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where Mr Johnson was treated in intensive care for Covid last year, there were reports of seven-and-a-half hour waiting times to receive a jab and a queue stretching 500 yards, reaching Westminster Bridge and visible from Parliament.
Photos were posted on Twitter of long queues around the UK, from Sevenoaks in Kent to Kidlington in Oxfordshire and lengthy lines in Manchester.
The situation wasn’t helped by confusion over who could get a booster jab by walking in rather than making an appointment. On Monday, walk-in jabs became available to the over-30s. But many young people over 18 but under 30 were chancing their arm (so to speak) in trying to get a booster in the headlong rush.
