Andrew Goodwin, from Oxford Economics, said in a Friday note that Plan B was “unlikely to have a significant impact on output”.

“The emergence of omicron may impact activity by making consumers more cautious, but until we know more about the health implications, we see no reason to lower our forecast again at this stage,” he said.

Economists and markets have tempered their expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates this Thursday as the threat of further restrictions looms over the economy.

Sanjay Raja, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, said omicron had cast an “undeniable shadow on the near-term economic outlook”.

GDP figures released on Friday showed UK growth was nearly at a standstill even before the new variant rose to prominence, with growth of just 0.1pc in October.