Dr. Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, told officials yesterday that it was too early to assess the potential risk of the Omicron variant and warned that the virus was growing at a `scarring` rate.

`It could be the most significant threat we’ve had since the pandemic began. I’m sure the numbers we see over the next few days will be quite staggering given the pace of growth we’ve seen.`

The comments came as Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) said the rapid increase in Omicron infections could cause more patients to be hospitalized than at the peak of the pandemic.

A Covid-19 vaccination site in London, England on December 3.

The seven-day average of new hospital admissions in England is currently 752. Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, said this number could surpass last winter’s record, which peaked at 3,812 cases on January 9.

The NHS is in a state of crisis as hospitals in the UK are asked to discharge as many patients as possible to free up beds to cope with the Omicron wave.

The head of the British Health Security Agency said the number of Omicron infections is doubling in less than two days in most areas of the territory, this speed can be clearly seen in London and Manchester.

On December 14, Dr. Susan Hopskin warned that Omicron infections in the UK could reach one million cases per day by the end of this month.

Yesterday, the UK witnessed the highest number of new infections since the start of the pandemic with 78,610 cases recorded, 10,000 more than the level in January. More than 11 million infections and nearly 146,800 deaths

WHO on December 15 stated that current Covid-19 vaccines are at risk of reduced effectiveness in preventing infection against the Omicron variant, although it said more data would be needed to better understand its extent.

The world has reported more than 272 million infections and more than 5.3 million deaths from Covid-19.