Britain has reported a record 129,471 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would not bring in new restrictions this year to limit the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus, Reuters reports.

Johnson said he would not introduce new restrictions in England, but his ministers have urged people to celebrate the New Year cautiously and warned that the rules could be tightened if the health system was at risk of failure.

The British government manages lockdown restrictions for England, home to most of the UK population. Devolved authorities for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have already tightened their rules, as have other European countries facing a surge in Omicron cases.