Britain s Daily Covid Cases Hit A New Record High Of 218 000 Today According To Official Figures Released Just Moments Before Boris Johnson Held A 5pm Downing Street Press Conference

Britain's daily Covid cases hit a new record high of 218,000 today, according to official figures released just moments before Boris Johnson held a 5pm Downing Street press conference.<br>Today's new infection number represents a 58 per cent rise compared to last week but includes several days of backlogged cases in Wales and Northern Ireland.<br>Hospitalisations also continued to rise today with England recording 1,819 on January 1, the latest date with data, marking a 42 per cent rise on the previous week.  <br>But the statistics do not differentiate between patients that were admitted primarily for Covid and those who were admitted for a different illness and tested positive after admission. So-called 'incidental' admissions now make up about a third of all Covid inpatients, and fewer patients primarily sick with Covid are needing to be hooked up to ventilators. <br>Despite the rising figures, the Prime Minister did not announce any further curbs tonight and instead encouraged more people to come forward for their booster jabs.<br>Ministers have taken confidence from the fact that hospital admissions already appear to be falling in Omicron hotspot London, which is two weeks ahead of the rest of the country in its outbreak.<br><br>There were 347 admissions in the capital on New Year's Day, down 7 per cent. <br>But Mr Johnson — who was tonight joined by his chief scientists Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance — is facing growing calls to end the Omicron self-isolation crisis that threatens to paralyse the country.<br>There is anger among Conservative backbenchers and business leaders that the nation is being ground to a halt by a variant that causes little or no symptoms for the overwhelming majority. <br>Tory MP Craig Mackinlay told MailOnline the country was in the midst of a 'semi-lockdown' with 1million Britons currently isolating after catching Covid as he called for the PM to slash the quarantine period to five days like the US and France.<br><br>He said it could be 'the answer' to England's self-isolation misery.  <br>‘We're almost facing a semi-lockdown because of people being off work who are perfectly well. You couldn't make that up,' he said. 'The US must have done a lot of work on it...<br>and they have come up with five days as the answer. Perhaps it is.'<br>Iceland boss Richard Walker said 1,700 of his employees were now isolating after absences nearly doubled in the past week. He tweeted it 'would be very helpful to business if the isolation period was cut.' <br>It came as 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson — an influential No10 adviser whose modelling has bounced the country into previous lockdowns — claimed cases are plateauing in Omicron hotspot London and could start to fall nationally in as little as a week. <br>There is now an acceptance that Omicron is unlikely to overwhelm the NHS directly, however the sheer volume of people testing positive is putting strain on vital services and businesses.<br>Train and bin collection services have been scaled back amid soaring absences and pupils were sent home on their first day back today after testing positive.<br><br>And half a dozen NHS trusts across England have declared 'critical incidents', warning they may be unable to deliver vital care to patients in the coming weeks because so many staff are off.   <br>Ministers have been told to draw up plans to use the Army to stop the New Year return to work descending into chaos, with a million people testing positive every week. <br>Current rules in England mean anyone who tests positive has to isolate for seven days and can release if they test negative on two lateral flows, after cutting the period from 10 days earlier this month. No10 has so far resisted calls from a growing number of experts and politicians to go to five days but studies show most people are not infectious beyond that point. <br>Tory MP Mark Francois told MailOnline that the answer to the staffing crisis caused by Omicron was not to impose more restrictions, like some have suggested.<br>'Although this is a very challenging situation we cannot risk throwing the economy into reverse every time we discover a new variant,' he said.<br>‘We do have a world class vaccination programme and we are going to have to learn to live with this virus rather than have it dominate our lives for years to come. 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' <br>In other developments today:<br>Boris Johnson is meeting ministers to take stock after declaring that the government will stick to existing restrictions, while warning it is 'folly' to think the pandemic is over;The PM has rejected calls to cut the Covid isolation period again to five days, saying doing so could make the staffing crisis even worse;Vaccines minister Maggie Throup has played down concerns about a fall in the numbers getting booster jabs suggesting it will rise again after the festive period;   Hospital admissions for Covid in London fell for the first time since before Omicron took off, spurring hopes that the worst of the wave may have peaked;Britons shouldn't be offered a fourth Covid jab until there is more evidence, according to the head of the country's vaccine body, who warned dishing out vaccines every six months was 'not sustainable';Pre-return Covid international travel tests are expected to be scrapped tomorrow.          <br>         <br>         <br>         <br>         <br>         <br>         The empty concourse at Victoria train station, central London, today as rail passengers are hit by disruption on the first working day of the year in England and Wales due to a combination of faults and coronavirus-related staff shortages<br>         The West Park recycling centre in Long Eaton has seen dozens of fly tippers litter the floor with waste as people desperately tried to empty their homes of leftover materials following the festive period over New Year's weekend<br>         A person walks past Christmas trees discarded on the pavement, in west London, Britain, January 3, 2022.<br><br>Many people are simply throwing their Christmas trees outside to rot<br>         Boris Johnson (pictured being driven back to Downing Street this morning) will hold a press conference at 5pm as he faces growing pressure to end the Omicron self-isolation crisis that threatens to paralyse the economy and wreak havoc on vital services<br>           <br>           Road congestion levels in London were at 22 per cent in the 8am to 9am slot this morning (far right) according to TomTom<br><div class="art-ins mol-factbox news halfRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-1223b420-6d4a-11ec-95d9-274687643895" website chaos looms with a million people in Covid isolation