Britain's decision to impose restrictions to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant will likely avoid the need to impose much tougher controls in the new year, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said.

Javid said the Omicron variant was spreading more swiftly than any other variant studied and could result in around one million infections across the United Kingdom by the end of the month if transmission continued at the current rate.

The government has acted in order to stop the National Health Service (NHS) coming under unsustainable pressure, Javid said.

“I hope that most people will understand that by taking some decisive action now, we can potentially avoid action later,” Javid told Sky News.