United Kingdom’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid cleared that imposing COVID-19 restrictions in the country will be “an absolute last resort” as the omicron variant has turned up the pressure on the healthcare system of the country.

The official further added that the United Kingdom must “try to live with COVID-19.”

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The United Kingdom has become one of the worst-hit countries, not just in Europe but across the globe. With more than 149,000 deaths being registered in the country so far since the beginning of the pandemic about two years ago, almost 163,000 new cases were recorded on Saturday, a slight dip after multiple days of a record number of cases.

“Curbs on our freedom must be an absolute last resort and the British people rightly expect us to do everything in our power to avert them”, Health Secretary Javid wrote in the Daily Mail Newspaper, according to reports from AFP.

He added, “I have been determined that we must give ourselves the best chance of living alongside the virus” while laying emphasis on the “enormous health, social and economic costs of lockdowns.”

However, the rules seem to be different for other regions of the country. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have all introduced new restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID, authorities under Prime Minister Boris Johnson insist the available data does not point towards such measures, according to reports from AFP.

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Opinions have been divided on whether Johnson’s Conservative government was taking a risky gamble in not enforcing tougher coronavirus measures in England as the omicron variant drives infections to record high numbers, Associated Press reported.

About one in 25 people in England — or about 2 million people — had COVID-19 in the week before Christmas, the Office of National Statistics estimated Friday. That figure jumped to 1 in 15 in London, the capital, the body estimated.