It comes as fears have soared over the UK facing a fresh lockdown during the Christmas period. Ministers are said to be battling it out with experts on the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) board. Mr Raab, who is also the Justice Secretary, said the main debate centres around the lack of data on the severity of the new Omicron variant.

       He said there are currently 104 patients in hospital with the mutant strain of COVID-19.

       He added: "I'm not sure how many were unvaccinated, but what we do know is that a large proportion of those in hospital are unvaccinated.

       "It strengthens this case for people coming forward and having the booster.

       "What you are seeing is the hospitalisation rate of 104 in relation to Omicron – there is a time lag on the number of fatalities.

       "This is one of the challenges we have on assessing the situation. We rely heavily on the real data.

       "It will take a bit more time to assess the severity of Omicron."

       The former Foreign Secretary stressed the importance of vaccines in the fight.

       He told Sky: "We know that Omicron is doubling every two days and if you get the third jab you are over 70 percent protection.

       "That's why great effort has been placed on them and now over 50 percent of adults have had their booster.

       Last Tuesday Mr Raab told Kay Burley Britons would enjoy a "great Christmas," but he changed his tune slightly this morning.

       He said: "I think we will have a much better Christmas than last year because of the vaccination levels.

       "We saw on Saturday 900,000 people getting their booster jab.

       "I think we are in a better position thanks to the booster jab."

       Asked if the UK will face anymore restrictions before Christmas Day, Mr Raab said: "I can't make any hard, fast guarantees."

       He added: "We are in a stronger position thanks to the vaccine uptake, but there is a time lag in the data and we don't know the severity yet."

       "The latest data shows 82,000 daily cases, 900 hospitalisations and 45 deaths.

       "A lot of the scenarios being thrown around are worst-case scenarios, which we are, of course, duty bound to do."