The British government is monitoring the latest Covid-19 data on an almost hourly basis and will do whatever is necessary to tackle the spread, health minister Sajid Javid told Sky News.

Javid said analysis of the data suggested around 60 per cent of all new Covid-19 cases in England are the fast-spreading Omicron variant, but the country was in a better position than last Christmas thanks to things such as vaccinations and testing.

Asked about reports of possible further measures, Javid said: “We will do what is necessary but it has got to be backed up by the data [...] we are watching the data, discussing it with our scientists and our best advisers almost on an hourly basis and we will monitor that very carefully we will keep the situation under review.”