London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" in the capital on Saturday as Covid hospital admissions soared. Omicron now accounts for more than 80 percent of cases in London, according to a recent analysis by the UK Health Security Agency.
The number of people in hospital across London with Covid has risen to 1,534, up 28.6 percent on the previous week.
London and the South East were the first to go into lockdown last Christmas – and the latest poll of Express.co.uk readers has found the capital should not be subject to the draconian measures again.
The poll was carried out from December 18-19 and 3,612 online readers were given a binary choice and were asked: Should London be locked down as Omicron cases explode in the capital?
The results found 54 percent (1,956) were against the idea and voted no.
Meanwhile, many others believed restrictions should be tightened in the capital.
John.Heppell said: “Close all exits onto and from the M25, stop all trains, flights and boat movements within the M25.”
On Saturday, the London Mayor said he was "incredibly worried" about staff absences in vital public services including the NHS, fire service and police due to rapidly rising cases.
The declaration of a major incident will allow authorities to work together and support each other to reduce service disruption and free up more time to give booster jabs, the mayor's office added.
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The latest government data shows 68 percent (6.2 million) of Londoners aged 12 and over have had at least one vaccine.
Some 61.6 percent (5.6 million) have had their second jab and 29.9 percent (2.7million) have been administered a booster shot.
The UK Health Security Agency confirmed on Sunday there had been an additional 12,133 cases of Omicron over the previous 24 hours, taking the total number to 37,101.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show earlier today, Mr Khan said it was "inevitable" that new coronavirus measures would need to be introduced.
He warned “public services like the NHS on the verge of collapse, if not collapsing”.
The London Mayor added: "I think we should be able to celebrate Christmas safely. But I think sooner rather than later we're going to look at social distancing, we're going to have to look at household mixing.
"Because if we don't, the number of cases is only going one way and the issue isn't the seriousness of the consequences, not just that, it's also the numbers of people who have the virus."