The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less likely to result in severe disease and hospital admission, according to government public health experts in the UK.
Publishing preliminary findings of its research into the new variant, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said Omicron appears to result in less severe disease for those infected with it.
However, the agency warned that the new strain is more transmissible than previous variants such as Delta, and could still lead to significant numbers of people needing hospital treatment over coming weeks.
The UK's health secretary Sajid Javid welcomed the latest data as "promising" but urged the public to remain cautious over the Christmas break, adding it was "still too early to determine next