It is "too late" to effectively halt the spread of the omicron variant in the UK, a government science adviser has warned.

On Saturday, it was announced all travellers arriving in England will be required to take a Covid-19 pre-departure test from Tuesday - while Nigeria is being added to the Government's travel red list.

Ministers said the extra test was intended to be a temporary measure following new data showing an increase in the number of cases of the new strain linked to foreign travel.

But Prof Mark Woolhouse, who is a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) which advises the Government, said the measures would not make a "material difference" as the variant is already "spreading pretty rapidly".

Read the full story here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/05/late-stop-spread-omicron-covid-variant-warns-science-adviser

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