Concerns around coronavirus have resurfaced as China looks set to open its borders next week for the first time since the pandemic began.
But despite worries that cases in the country could be close to a million a leading British coronavirus expert has said the risk to the UK is small.
Professor Calum Semple from the Outbreak Medicine and Child Health department at the University of Liverpool is not concerned about the risk from China and thinks Brits should keep calm.
He said that although there are a lot of cases in China, they are from the same strains that have been in the rest of the world for more than six months already.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, he said: "The good news is, that the sequences that have been shared by Chinese scientists in the last few weeks are all showing that the viruses going around in China is closely related to the viruses that have been going round the rest of the world in the last six months.
"And the vaccine that we have got in the UK, the new booster one, not the old one, covers you against these Omicron strains, so really I'm going to take the approach of keep calm, we've got this covered."
Professor Semple's comments come as UK ministers have been accused of ignoring the threat of Covid as pressure mounts to impose travel restrictions on China.
The US, Italy, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan all announced mandatory tests after Beijing said it is to reopen its borders next week after three years.
More than half (52%) of passengers on a flight from China to Milan, Italy, tested positive for Covid after the measure was brought in.
Here in the UK latest figures show that 546 people died in the last 28 days, with 508 in England, 15 each in Scotland and Wales and eight in Northern Ireland.
The government data also shows there were 57,853 recorded coronavirus cases in the last 7 days.
The statistics were released on Thursday, December 22 and will not be updated again until Thursday, January 5 due to the Christmas break.
The latest data from the ZOE Health Study found that symptoms which were previously common like loss of taste and smell, shortness of breath, and fever are experienced by a lot fewer people now.
One of the symptoms is a headache which is often associated with a hangover.
With New Year's Eve fast approaching us, this could lead to some confusion. But there are some telltale signs you might be experiencing more than just a dodgy hangover after your big night out.
The most recent data from the study has found that these are the most common Covid symptoms Brits are currently facing are:
- a sore throat
- a runny nose
- a blocked nose
- sneezing
- a cough
- a headache
- a hoarse voice
- muscle aches and pains
- an altered sense of smell
