UK Covid news LIVE: Lateral flow tests ‘in short supply’ amid call to cut Covid isolation

There are currently no PCR test appointments available to book in England or Northern Ireland and no home tests available to order on the NHS website.

Appointments are available Wales, and “very few” are available in Scotland, according to the Government’s website.

PCR tests, which are required for people who have Covid symptoms or who have tested positive on a lateral flow test, were also periodically unavailable for parts of the UK on Monday and Tuesday.

People are advised to try again later if they can’t currently get a test.

The UK Health Security Agency has been contacted for a comment.

Omicron is now the dominant variant of coronavirus in Wales, the deputy chief medical officer has said.

Dr Chris Jones said a further 12,000 Covid cases were recorded in Wales over Christmas.

The rate has risen to a record 1,004 in every 100,000 people.

“Our case rates were high before this Omicron wave started and our hospitals are already full as they try to deliver all the healthcare that’s stacked up over the past year,” Dr Jones said.

Figures for cases of the Omicron variant in Wales are expected later.

A south London hospital trust has banned adult in-patients from having visitors unless there are “exceptional circumstances,” because of soaring Covid rates.

Read the full story here.

Rising living costs will likely become the “dominant story” following the latest Covid wave, an expert has warned.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, was speaking after the think tank warned in a new report that millions of families are facing a “cost-of-living catastrophe” due to soaring energy bills and rising taxes.

Mr Bell said: “If you think about the politics of this, energy prices and taxes are always big politics in Britain.

“The fact that two such big changes are coming on top of each other in April, at the same time as our wages aren’t rising that significantly because of higher inflation in general, I think means that this is going to be the dominant story once we come out of the bad but hopefully short-lived Omicron wave.”

Thai health authorities have warned people should brace themselves for a potential surge in Covid cases after classifying the country’s first cluster of the Omicron variant as a “super-spreader incident”.

The Omicron cluster identified in the northeastern province of Kalasin on Christmas eve has been linked to a couple who had travelled from Belgium and visited bars, concerts and markets.

The ensuing cluster had infected hundreds, with cases spreading to 11 other provinces, said senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong, citing how one of the bars linked to the cluster had been packed and did not have good ventilation.

“During the New Year, if you visit any place and it does not look safe, just don’t go,” Opas told a briefing.

Up to now, Thailand has reported 740 cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, including 251 in people who had come into contact with foreign arrivals, said Opas.

More than 400 pubs have disappeared from communities in England and Wales as the number calling last orders flatlined despite the toll of the pandemic.

Analysis of Government data by real estate adviser Altus Group has shown the number of pubs liable for property taxes, for business rates, including those vacant and being offered to let, fell by 444 to 40,173 in December, compared with 40,617 a year earlier.

Robert Hayton, UK president at Altus Group, said “Pubs continue to bear the brunt of coronavirus restrictions but have, thankfully, proved remarkably resilient.

“However, it remains to be seen what impact Omicron has on numbers next year as this could be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many.”

The hospitality industry saw their takings down by 60 per cent on Christmas day compared to 2019, according UKHospitality.

It comes as another blow to the beleaguered hospitality industry, with pubs, bars and restaurants losing an average of £10,335 in the week leading up to December 25.

But the industry body said in the weeks prior to the emergence of Omicron, which was first reported in late November, average sales had been close to pre-pandemic levels (98 per cent).

London venues and those in city centres have been hit particularly hard by work from home orders and a drop in consumer confidence.

UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Hospitality businesses have been hit hard during a key trading period – and this after missing out on the crucial Christmas and New Year sales last year.

“Restrictions must be kept to a minimum and must be lifted as quickly as possible to help an already beleaguered sector or many will simply not survive – and those who do make it through face a return to 20 per cent VAT in April.”

Ms Nicholls called on the Government to “commit to keeping VAT at 12.5 per cent and offering enhanced rates relief”.

“Further support will also be needed should additional restrictions be imposed or the tougher measures in Scotland and Wales be retained into 2022,” she added.

Nicola Sturgeon is due to give an update on Covid restrictions in Scotland as case numbers reach record highs.

The festive period has seen daily cases in Scotland climb to more than 8,000, with the most recorded since the start of the pandemic on Boxing Day – 11,030.

The Scottish First Minister is expected to give an update on restrictions and Covid statistics in Scotland between 2pm and 2.30pm in Parliament on Wednesday.

It remains unclear whether she will introduce further restrictions or not.

There are “no current plans” to cut the Covid isolation period in England to five days, a Government minister has said.

Chloe Smith, minister for disabled people, health and work, told BBC Breakfast: “There are no current plans in England to change that period.

“Of course, we have actually only recently taken it down from 10 to seven, and we want to look at that – we want to make sure that that is working as we believe it ought to.

“We think the current period, therefore, is the right one, so we haven’t any plans to change that further.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the Government should avoid “rushing into” cutting Covid isolation times.

Asked about calls for the isolation period to be reduced to five days, he said: “I think we should always follow the advice of our leading scientists, medical scientists like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, and I don’t think they’ve given an opinion on this.”

He added: “Let’s see what they say on this before rushing into this.”

Mr Ashworth said politicians “should always be careful to listen to scientific experts”.

Read more about calls to cut the self-isolation period here.