"Its doubling time — that's the number of days it takes the number of infections to double in the community — we estimate is between two and a half to three days, which would mean that at this rate by the end of this month, we could hit about a million infections in the community throughout the UK," Javid told the Sky News broadcaster.
On Wednesday, the UK Health Security Agency reported over 100 Omicron cases for the second day in a row, taking the total of people that have tested positive for the new strain in the country to 568.
Following the report, the UK government announced that several COVID-19 restrictions will be reinstated starting next week, in an attempt to prevent the rapidly spreading virus from overwhelming the public health service.
The new measures include the reintroduction of the guidance to work from home starting Monday, the extension of legal requirement to wear a face mask to most public indoor settings, and the introduction of mandatory COVID-19 pass in nightclubs and venues where a lot of people gather.