Sajid Javid has said that there are "no guarantees" that further coronavirus restrictions won't be imposed before Christmas.
He told the Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning that it was "time to be more cautious".
When asked whether he could rule out further Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas, the Health Secretary said: "We are assessing the situation, it's very fast-moving. We've seen with omicron there's a lot that we still don't know about omicron.
"That's the truth of the matter. The reality is there's a lot of uncertainty."
He added: "We know this thing is spreading rapidly. We know already now that in London, it's around 80 per cent of infections, in England it's around 60 per cent of infections."
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Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a leading statistician from the University of Cambridge, has warned the UK will see between a thousand and two thousand hospitalisations a day by the end of the year.
Appearing on Sky's Trevor Phillips on Sunday, he said boosters will not have a big effect in reducing this figure and "that is going to happen whatever we do".
"Boosters won't have a big effect on it... that is going to happen whatever we do., he added.
Shopping streets in the Netherlands were closed and people's Christmas plans were in disarray as the country began a lockdown on Sunday aimed at limiting an expected surge in infections.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the sudden shut-down on Saturday evening, ordering the closure of all but the most essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places until January 14.
The news came as a shock to many Dutch people as they headed into the Christmas and New Year period. Many people rushed out on Saturday to stock up on presents and food and to get a last-minute haircut.
Hospitality workers demanded compensation for lost income in the holiday season, while gym owners stressed the importance of exercise during a health crisis.
"Closing all bars and restaurants in such an important month is incredibly painful and dramatic. We need compensation and an exit strategy", the Dutch association for hospitality services said.
The Health Secretary said it remained an "individual decision" whether people went to Christmas parties.
He said many of the parties he had been invited to had been cancelled or scaled back.
And he told The Andrew Marr Show: "I think that's true up and down the country."
But he said the situation was not "a lockdown at all by any means".
He added: "What it is, is people taking their own individual decisions."
No player would ever overrule his specialist medical department on his treatment - but same specialists are being ignored over vaccine drive, writes Sam Wallace.
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Germany is to add the UK to its equivalent of the red list for travel, closing the country to British tourists and business travellers, Justin Huggler reports.
The UK will be designated as a “virus variant area” from midnight on Monday, meaning only German citizens and residents will be allowed to enter.
Britons will not be allowed into Germany unless they can prove they are resident in the country.
Those who are allowed to enter will be subject to 14 days’ self-isolation at home, but no hotel quarantine.
The classification is expected to last until at least January 3, the German health ministry said.
Britons and others will be allowed to transit through German airports or leave the country, and the new restrictions only apply to those entering.
Michelin-star chef Michel Roux Jr has urged the Government to issue "clear decisions" for the hospitality sector after restaurants and pubs across the UK report widespread cancellations of Christmas bookings.
Appearing on Sky's Trevor Philips on Sunday, he said: "I don't know if I 'll be open tomorrow, let alone next week".
A senior Tory has criticised the "off the bus, on the bus" approach to tackling coronavirus.
Speaking on Times Radio, Tobias Ellwood said: "That approach needs to stop because it's damaging our economy, wearing people out and our NHS isn't able to cope."
He said there was "plenty of scope, I'm afraid, for another variant to turn up, possibly during the summer".
And he said: "We need to be planning for that now. Instead, it's a stop-start, it's this, you know, locking down and killing the economy, then trying to revive it again.
"You can't continue to keep moving in that way. So what we need to do is better plan for the future."
The Health Secretary has defended the Government's support for businesses.
He told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that it was "not quite right to say the Government's not doing anything at all".
He said: "I completely understand businesses now coming forward to say 'I'm hard hit', and they have every right to make those representations to Government.
"The Chancellor and his team are listening, I think the Chancellor has done an excellent job throughout this pandemic in dealing with this and no doubt he will keep things under review."
Boris Johnson's "boosterism" will not be enough alone to steer the Government through the current crisis, a senior Tory has said.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee, told Times Radio: "We all anticipate and indeed accept that Boris Johnson is a bigger-picture character.
"Therefore he needs to recognise himself that only if he has the people around him that can assist with the strategy, the clarity, the communication, are we then able to get through the very difficult number of plates that are spinning in No 10 at the moment.
"The boosterism, the energy is not enough, in these current circumstances alone."
He added: "He chose his own reasons, I think there will be concern that somebody at the heart of Government, with so much influence of where Government is actually going, has chosen on issues to do with the economy and Covid to say, 'this isn't where... this isn't the party I want to be part of', and so that will be concerning.
Germany is tightening travel restrictions for people coming from Britain in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant there.
The country's national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, added Britain to its list of “virus variant areas” late Saturday. This means anyone travelling from the U.K. to Germany must enter a mandatory quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status.
The new restrictions, which will go into effect at midnight Sunday, come as the U.K. reports a record high number of new coronavirus infections. On Saturday, the country saw 90,418 new cases.
The U.K. joins eight African countries, including South Africa, on Germany's list of “virus variant areas.”
The Robert Koch Institute's announcement comes in the wake of tightened restrictions for other countries across Europe as the continent faces a fourth wave of infections.
Starting Sunday, France and Denmark are considered “high risk areas,” meaning those who are not vaccinated or recovered from the virus must quarantine for 10 days. Dozens of countries, including nearly all of Germany's direct neighbours, have now been added to this category.
The Queen's plans for her first Christmas without the Duke of Edinburgh are facing ruin, as rising Covid cases force her to reconsider the Royal Family's traditional Sandringham church visit, reports Hannah Furness.
The Queen, who has been determined to return to Sandringham this Christmas after spending last year in a bubble at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh, is taking advice over the omicron surge.
The Queen, Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children, and other children and grandchildren were all expected to be in Sandringham this year for their first Christmas gathering since before the pandemic in 2019.
Read the full story here
Michelle O'Neill, Stormont's deputy First Minister, has warned that omicron will hit Northern Ireland "like a ton of bricks".
Ms O'Neill told the BBC: "Once again we find ourselves dealing with what potentially is going to be the worst time through the whole of the pandemic. We are in live play and we are analysing the data and the information as it comes through.
"We are in the fortunate position that we are a little bit behind what is happening in England and Scotland and are able to analyse what is happening there and make decisions based on the impact we are going to see here."
She added: "We are continuing to work around the clock with public health officials to understand the impact because there are things that we currently know, but there are also things that we do not know. In terms of what we know, we know that this is going to hit us like a ton of bricks.
"We know that by the end of the year this will be the dominant strain of Covid, we know that we will peak in the middle of January, we know it is going to spread rapidly.
Boris Johnson has been accused of botching the rollout of antiviral drugs that prevent hospitalisation, with a crucial government-backed trial struggling to gain participants.
Patients have been eligible to sign up to receive molnupiravir, the first at-home Covid treatment, for more than 10 days.
It was hoped more than 10,000 people would sign up - yet, despite soaring cases, only 391 have done so.
Senior Tories have complained of “inertia” around the rollout, saying the Prime Minister should have used his Downing Street press conferences to champion the drug.
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Italy is considering bringing in new Covid-19 measures over the holiday period amid growing concern over the spread of the omicron variant.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi could bring in rules so vaccinated people must wear facemasks outdoors and show proof of a negative test to get into crowded areas, daily Corriere della Sera reported.
Under current rules, people who have been vaccinated or have recently recovered from the disease have free access to indoor seating at bars and restaurants, museums, cinemas, clubs and sporting events.
Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, said it was "inevitable" that new coronavirus measures would be brought in.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that "the direction of travel is only going one way: cases doubling over two days", adding that the NHS was on its knees.
But he said there "must, must, must be a major package of support for our hospitality, culture, and retail".
Mr Khan said: "I think if we don't bring in new restrictions sooner rather than later, you're going to see even more positive cases and potentially public services like the NHS on the verge of collapse, if not collapsing."
He 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.
It comes after Mr Khan declared a "major incident" on Saturday to help the capital's hospitals cope with a surge in Covid-19 cases caused by the fast-spreading omicron coronavirus variant.
Sajid Javid has said he would not have "the usual amount of hugs I get from my mum" if he visits her over Christmas as he urged caution.
The Health Secretary told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC: "If I'm going to see my mum, for example, who's elderly, like most very old people, she's more vulnerable than younger people.
"You know, I will take a test and you know, I might, you know, just have not the usual amount of hugs I get from my mum.
"You just take a little bit of caution. I think that's a sensible response."
Sajid Javid has said unvaccinated people are "taking up hospital beds" that could be used for someone else.
Speaking on Trevor Phillips On Sunday on Sky News, Mr Javid said 10 per cent of the population - more than five million people - still had not received their jabs, and around nine out of 10 of those needing the most care in hospital were unvaccinated.
And he said: "I just cannot emphasise enough the impact that they are having on the rest of society.
"They must really think about the damage they are doing to society by... they take up hospital beds that could have been used for someone with maybe a heart problem, or maybe someone who is waiting for elective surgery.
"But instead of protecting themselves and protecting the community they choose not to get vaccinated. They are really having a damaging impact and I just can't stress enough, please do come forward and get vaccinated."
Omicron may be less efficient at replicating in the lungs than previous Covid variants, according to hopeful new UK laboratory research.
A study conducted by scientists at the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease suggested that mutations on the virus’ spike protein, which make it able to evade antibodies, may also reduce its ability to attack the lungs and cause severe disease.
“We demonstrate significantly lower infectivity of lung organoids and Calu-3 lung cells,” said the Cambridge preprint, which was posted late on Friday night.
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Sajid Javid described advice from Government scientific advisers warning of the possible impact on hospital admissions from omicron as "sobering" and said there are "no guarantees" when asked about the possibility of further restrictions.
He told The Andrew Marr Show: "It's a very sobering analysis. We take it very seriously."
He added: "We do have to challenge data and underlying assumptions, I think that is appropriate, and take into account a broader set of facts."
When it was suggested to him he was not ruling out a circuit-breaker or new restrictions before Christmas, Mr Javid said: "There are no guarantees in this pandemic, I don't think.
"At this point we just have to keep everything under review."
Piers Corbyn, the anti-lockdown protester, has been arrested on suspicion of encouraging people to burn down MPs' offices.
The Metropolitan Police said a man in his 70s - who it did not name - was arrested in south London in the early hours of Sunday.
"The arrest relates to a video posted online in which people were encouraged to burn down MPs' offices," the force said.
Read the full story here
Sajid Javid has said unvaccinated people are "taking up hospital beds" that could be used for someone else.
Speaking on Trevor Phillips On Sunday on Sky News, Mr Javid said 10 per cent of the population - more than five million people - still had not received their jabs, and around nine out of 10 of those needing the most care in hospital were unvaccinated.
And he said: "I just cannot emphasise enough the impact that they are having on the rest of society.
"They must really think about the damage they are doing to society by... they take up hospital beds that could have been used for someone with maybe a heart problem, or maybe someone who is waiting for elective surgery.
"But instead of protecting themselves and protecting the community they choose not to get vaccinated. They are really having a damaging impact and I just can't stress enough, please do come forward and get vaccinated."
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