LONDON (Bywire News) - On Monday, Scotland reported six cases of Omicron, some of which were not at all linked to travel in South Africa. This has raised concerns over whether or not the new COVID-19 variant has begun spreading through the community.
Earlier, Britain had confirmed three cases of the new strain, reinforcing the point made by the World Health Organisation that the variant is likely to spread internationally, posing a "very high" risk for a rise in infections.
The United Kingdom collectively has restricted all travel to southern Africa, where the variant was initially detected, to try and slow it down.
John Swinney, Scotland's deputy First Minister, said to BBC radio, "On some of the cases involved, we are satisfied that there is no travel history or travel connection with southern Africa,"
"So that means that it is likely that ...Omicron ...is circulating within the community."
Boris Johnson decided to make wearing masks compulsory in shops and public transport in England.
He also requested for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to urgently reexamine booster vaccines for those under 40, while also closing down the gap between second doses and boosters.
Junior health minister, Edward Argar told Sky News, "We'd expect that (review) within the coming hours."
According to ministers and scientists even if the COVID-19 vaccines are not effective against Omicron, it is still better than no protection and would help to decrease the number of hospitalisations and deaths.
The deputy chair of the JCVI, Anthony Harnden, said that due to how long it would take to develop a variant-specific vaccine, increasing immunity rates was advisable.
He told the BBC, "Inevitably, everybody will be offered a booster, but what we want to do is make sure that it's done in a sensible order."
Argar claimed that COVID cases would rise more but, "we don't know by what speed or by what numbers."
"...We're trying to give ourselves the time to understand how it works and how it interacts with the vaccine."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate Holton, John Stonestreet and Klaudia Fior)