Boris Johnson refuses to rule out tougher Covid restrictions before Christmas Day in Omicron fight

Boris Johnson has declined to rule out bringing in new tougher Covid restrictionsbefore Christmas day as he revealed at least one patient in the UK has died with the omicron variant.

Answering questions at a vaccination centre on this morning, the Prime Minister said that omicron could make up the majority of new Covid cases in London by Tuesday.

The Prime Minister issued a warning to Tory rebels considering voting against his Plan B Covid restrictions in Parliament, telling them there is "no room for complacency".

And Mr Johnson urged people to “set aside” the possibility that omicron could be a milder form of Covid than the current delta variant, stressing the “sheer pace” at which it was spreading was critical.

The comments come after Mr Johnson accelerated the speed of the booster jab roll-out on Sunday, saying he wanted all adults in England to get the “chance” to get a top-up dose this month.

However, there was confusion on Monday morning over whether the Prime Minister meant jabs would have to be administered by January 1 or simply scheduled by the year's end.

The NHS booking centre for arranging a third jab crashed on Sunday night, moments after Mr Johnson made his television plea urging all adults in England to get a booster jab.

There were also problems online on Monday morning with ordering lateral flow tests - the Covid tests that the Government provides free for people to check if they are infected.

Mr Johnson stressed there was a "ready supply" of lateral flow tests available.

The issues emerged with Mr Johnson facing the biggest Conservative rebellion during his premiership, with up to 75 Conservative MPs considering voting against his Plan B restrictions.