UK health authority: Omicron the "most significant threat" since the pandemic began

Omicron is “the most significant threat” to public health in the U.K. since the start of the pandemic, authorities warned Wednesday, as the World Health Organization cautioned that the highly contagious Covid-19 variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate.

The number of Covid-19 infections over the coming days will be “quite staggering” compared to previous variants, the head of the U.K. Health Security Agency, Jenny Harries, said in a warning about the threat omicron posed.

But despite the advisories from domestic and international experts, there has been growing resistance to the British government’s new Covid-19 measures — notably from members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.