Britons rush to book booster jabs after Johnson's warning of Omicron “tidal wave”

The official website of the UK National Health Service (NHS) has crashed as panicked people rush to enroll for COVID-19 booster doses, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the alarm over the Omicron variant of coronavirus and urged Britons to get their third jabs.

“The NHS website is currently experiencing technical difficulties. We are working to resolve these issues. Thank you for your patience,” said a statement published on the NHS website on Monday.

The development comes on the heels of Johnson’s warning over a “tidal wave” of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which he said cannot be contained by two vaccine doses.

Speaking in a pre-recorded address, hours after government scientists lifted the COVID-19 alert level to 4 on a 5-point scale; the UK premier urged people to get their "booster" dose and launched what he called a new "Omicron Emergency Boost" initiative.

"A tidal wave of Omicron is coming," Johnson said. "And I'm afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need."

The UK premier warned that the Omicron variant is much more transmissible than other variants, and could push the rate of hospitalizations higher.

He said all eligible adults in the UK will be administered the third vaccine dose by the end of December, bringing forward the previous deadline by a month.

The booster push will be "a national mission unlike anything we have done before in the vaccination program," Johnson promised.

UK worried over new Covid variant, adds 6 African countries to red list

British health officials are saying that a newly identified coronavirus variant which has spread in South Africa has double the number of mutations of the Delta variant.

Shortly after the PM’s announcement, the NHS website was inundated with booster applications, with more than 17,000 individuals in the online queue trying to secure a shot.

According to the British health officials, the newly identified Coronavirus variant, which first emerged in South Africa last month, has double the number of mutations from the Delta variant.

Data released on Friday by the UK Health Security Agency showed that vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection was substantially reduced against Omicron with just two doses, but a third dose boosted protection up to over 70%.

In a separate statement, 10 Downing Street confirmed that NHS staff "will need to be redeployed away from non-urgent services”, which means “all primary care services will now focus on urgent clinical need and vaccines, and some non-urgent appointments and elective surgeries may be postponed until the New Year while every adult in the country is jabbed."

“We know from bitter experience how these exponential curves develop. No-one should be in doubt - there is a tidal wave of omicron coming”

Yet @borisjohnson has chosen to forgo more measures that would give us time to roll out boosters.

That's not statesmanship. It's cowardice.

— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) December 12, 2021

A total of 3,137 Omicron cases have been reported in the UK as of Sunday, according to official data, marking an increase of over a thousand cases from Saturday.

The seven-day average of COVID cases by date reported has risen in recent days above 50,000 -- the highest since the January peak during the last wave of the pandemic.

With 146,439 fatalities recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test as of Sunday, Britain has Europe's highest death toll from the virus.

Johnson has introduced a "Plan B" in England, ordering people to work from home, wear masks in public places and use vaccine passes to slow the rate of infections.

However many of his own Conservative Party lawmakers are likely to vote against it in parliament on Tuesday, and Johnson said there were no plans for further restrictions as cases soar.

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