Doctors' workload will be "temporarily suspended" so they can focus on the Covid-19 booster vaccination programme, the Health Secretary has said amid warnings from GPs that "something has to give".

       Sajid Javid said the NHS was working on how "some of the workload of GPs can be temporarily suspended or GPs can be helped in other ways so they can concentrate on vaccine delivery".

       Doctors say they face "choices" to deliver Boris Johnson's booster jab drive to combat the omicron coronavirus variant, prompting fresh fears for face-to-face patients.

       The Prime Minister has vowed to offer every adult in Britain a third Covid-19 vaccine by the end of January, with GPs given ￡15 per shot.

       Army personnel will join hospital hubs, NHS staff and pharmacies to ramp up boosters from the current 2.5 million per week to 3.5 million, in a bid to avoid tougher restrictions if the new strain - of which the UK has 22 cases so far - is more transmissable or resistant to jabs.

       Dr Gary Howsam, vice-chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said surgeries were ready to play their part but "can't be doing all things all the time".

       "GPs are already working to full capacity on the work we're doing at the moment and if we're going to divert our attention to the vaccination programme again then there's going to be some choices having to be made on exactly where we have most clinical value," he told BBC Radio 4 this morning.

       "GPs are currently under immense pressure, we carried out 34 million consultations during the month of October, that's 2m more than in Sept and 7m more than in August. Two-thirds of those were face-to-face."

       Meanwhile, the British Medical Association union cautioned that "something has to give" while NHS Providers, which represents trusts, said the January target was a "huge logistical challenge".

       It has sparked concerns in-person appointments may be once again under threat, barely weeks after the Government began demanding they be increased to avoid missed diagnoses via online consultations.

       Follow the latest updates below.

       The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said the NHS is working to suspend some of the workload of GPs so they can concentrate on the "new national mission" booster vaccination programme.

       "The NHS is working on that right now with GP representatives," he told BBC Breakfast.

       "I am confident that they will work out a way where some of the workload of GPs can be temporarily suspended or GPs can be helped in other ways so they can concentrate on vaccine delivery."

       Mr Javid urged people who were struggling to book a booster jab to contact their MP.

       "If they have contacted their GP and they are not getting anywhere, the best they can do right now is probably contact their Member of Parliament directly and that will come to me and we will do everything we can to help," he said.

       Mr Javid said pharmacies offering jabs would be increased to 1,500, some 400 troops would be drafted in and 16 more hospital hubs would be added to the 230 current ones. He said 3,000 vaccination sites exist across the UK.

       America is set to bring in tougher pre-flight testing for international arrivals to try to curb the spread of the Omicrom variant, Ben Farmer reports.

       Health officials are expected to insist travellers take a test no more than 24 hours before they board their flight, instead of the current 72 hours.

       The tightening up comes after Joe Biden said the new virus variant was a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic” and said there would be no further lock downs in the US.

       Mr Biden is due to deliver a speech on Thursday outlining plans to control the Covid-19 pandemic during the winter season.

       America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said it was "working to modify the current Global Testing Order for travel as we learn more about the Omicron variant; a revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international air travellers to one day before departure to the United States".

       Officials are also looking at toughening up testing requirements for international visitors in the days after they arrive. That could include self quarantine.

       The CDC currently recommends post-arrival testing 3-5 days after landing in the US from overseas and self-quarantine for unvaccinated travellers, though compliance is voluntary and is believed to be low.

       Need help?

       Visit our adblocking instructions page.