Omicron: Boris Johnson announces Downing Street press conference about COVID latest news this evening

Boris Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference at 5pm today to give an update on the Omicron variant.

The prime minister will be joined by England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and is expected to give updates on the booster campaign amid alarming new warnings about the spread of the new variant.

It is understood he will not be announcing any further coronavirus measures.

The medical director of primary care for NHS England, Dr Nikki Kanani, will also appear at the briefing.

In other developments, No 10 said it was “clearly beneficial” for the devolved nations to share information on coronavirus, ahead of a Cobra meeting to be chaired by Michael Gove on Wednesday.

Watch: Omicron numbers to become 'staggering' in the next few days, warns Dr Jenny Harries

Downing Street confirmed the meeting with the devolved administrations and the prime minister’s official spokesman said they would discuss “the ongoing UK-wide response to the Omicron variant”.

He said: “We’ve had success throughout in sharing information and approaches and we’ll continue to do that.”

The PM's official spokesperson also said that mass vaccination centres at football grounds will open within days – with England’s national stadium and Chelsea’s ground offering jabs.

The press conference comes the day after Professor Whitty gave ministers a dire warning about the spread of Omicron across the UK.

He told ministers to expect a “significant increase in hospitalisations” as cases caused by the highly transmissible new variant continue to surge.

Earlier on Wednesday Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, described Omicron as “probably the most significant threat we’ve had since the start of the pandemic”.

She told MPs that the variant is currently doubling in less than two days in most regions.

Dr Harries said: “The numbers that we see on data over the next few days will be quite staggering compared to the rate of growth that we’ve seen in cases for previous variants.”

MPs voted to introduce Plan B measures, including increased mandatory mask wearing and COVID passes for mass events, on Tuesday evening.

The prime minister suffered a bruising rebellion, after 100 Tory backbenchers revolted to vote against COVID passes. The measure went through thanks to support from Labour.

Watch: How do COVID passes work in the UK and France?