“Whatever the challenges that fate continues to throw in our way and whatever the anxieties we may have about the weeks and months ahead, particularly about omicron and the growing numbers in hospitals … we can say one thing with certainty - our position this December the 31st is incomparably better than last year", Johnson said in his New Year’s message posted on social media by his office.
The prime minister also hailed the success of COVID-19 vaccine programme and the "heroic" public response to the booster campaign, claiming that the government’s target to offer a third dose to every eligible adult in the UK had been met.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street 10 to meet with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in London, Britain December 16, 2021.
© REUTERS / DYLAN MARTINEZ
Johnson, who has resisted calls to impose new COVID-19 social restrictions in England to tackle the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant, urged people, however, to be "cautious", amid fears that the National Health Service could be overwhelmed by a surge in positive cases in the first week of January.
On Thursday, the UK recorded a further 189,213 COVID-19 cases, a new daily record since the pandemic began in March, 2020, while in England alone, the number of patients in hospital climbed to 11,452, its highest level since February.