Booster jabs will be offered to everyone over 18 in England from this week, the PM has announced, as he declared an “Omicron emergency”.

“No one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming,” Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

A new target has been set to offer boosters to all adults who want one by the end of the month, he said.

Ten people in England are in hospital with Omicron, Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed on Monday.

Some medical appointments are to be postponed to focus on boosters.

Mr Johnson gave his update in a TV statement on Sunday evening, just hours after the UK’s Covid alert level was raised to four due to the spread of the new Omicron virus variant.

Level four means a high or rising level of transmission – the last time the UK was at this level was in May.

People have been told to work from home from Monday “if they can”, as part of the UK government’s introduction of plan B measure