British Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people to book a COVID-19 booster shot on Wednesday as he said there were 22 confirmed cases of the Omicron virus variant in the country.
Javid said the government believed a booster campaign would help protect against severe disease from Omicron, even if it turns out that vaccines are not as effective against the variant as previous strains of the disease.
He said he hoped to know more about Omicron within two weeks, as scientists work to understand what impact the new variant will have on transmissibility and serious disease.
"At this point in time the case numbers are very low," Javid told Sky News. "For the UK we've got 22 confirmed cases at the moment and that will go up, it will certainly go up."
Britain plans to offer all adults a COVID-19 booster shot by the end of January. Government data shows 81% of the population aged over 12 have had two doses of the vaccine while 32% have had a booster shot or third dose.
"Our best form of defence still remains our vaccines," Javid said. "It's possible of course, it's possible that it might be less effective. We just don't know for sure yet. But it's also very likely that it will remain effective against serious disease."
At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
Russian air attacks on Ukraine kept the eastern half of the country under air raid alert for more than five hours, Ukraine's military said early on Sunday, with Moscow launching several waves of strikes targeting Kyiv and other cities.
Massive consecutive strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, sending booms across the city and sparking flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.
Over 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan taking part in a march near Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.
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