Nearly 130 people in hospital with Omicron variant and 14 dead, minister says

‘There are obviously some lags in certain bits of the data,’ Gillian Keegan says

Nearly 130 people are in hospital with Omicron, while the new Covid variant’s death toll stands at 14, a health minister has said.

Gillian Keegan told Sky News on Wednesday there are 129 people in hospital with the new fast-spreading “right now”.

However, there are some lags in data, Gillian Keegan added, as IT issues meant figures were not updated on Tuesday by the UK Health and Security Agency.

When asked whether technological issues over daily reporting had been resolved, the health minister said: “Well, look, we are getting data from all across the country from every hospital, which is being fed up on a daily - and sometimes hourly - basis.

“So there are obviously some lags in certain bits of the data.”

Ms Keegan added: “That’s the data we are collecting: 129 people as of yesterday and 14 deaths with Omicron.”

Also on Wednesday, Ms Keegan said data on the severity of Omicron was “one of the missing pieces” ministers were waiting for.

The UK’s chief medical officers warned this week of “multiple challenges” and “a great deal of pressure” from the Omicron variant in the year ahead.

“We can all see the concerning numbers of Omicron-infected people rising very rapidly, some of whom will become seriously ill and need medical care,” they said in a joint statement.

“This is on top of existing Delta patients, the backlog of work from the previous Covid wave, normal health service work and other winter pressures.”

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, has said there will not be any new Covid restrictions before Christmas, but warned they remain on the table for afterwards if needed.