Britain has reported 88,447 new Covid cases over the past 24 hours as 56 more deaths were confirmed within 28 days of a positive test.
This is a 5% increase on figures recorded last Monday.
The increase on last week comes after a month of sharp decline in Covid rates seems to have evened out.
In recent days the number of new cases has hovered around the 90,000 mark after peaking at nearly 220,000 new cases in early January.
This comes as the country looks ahead to January 27 where the remaining majority of Covid restrictions will be removed in England.
The changes come as the vulnerable will somehow need to remain protected from the virus, even as the country emerges from any restrictions.
However, businesses like hospitality who were affected by the restrictions will be hoping to see footfall to their increase once more.
On Thursday, masks will no longer be required in indoor settings, including public transport.
The government has recommended they are still worn but it is no longer a legal requirement.
On top of that, NHS Covid passes will not be needed anymore at large indoor or outdoor events any longer.
Restrictions were scrapped as Omicron cases continue to fall day-on-day and have been doing so since the New Year began.
The UK’s light touch handling of the fourth wave seems to have allowed life as usual to continue largely unaffected.
However death rates spiked, with the most recent confirmed figures around 250 Brits dying a day.
Continuing the government’s policy of learning to live with Covid, it has been confirmed that tests for fully-vaccinated travellers arriving in England will be scrapped too.
At its worst, the Omicron wave, the UK’s fourth, saw dozens of hotel trusts and counties declaring critical incidents as services were overwhelmed.
The number of admissions to hospitals looks set to continue falling, after peaking in the new year and plateauing in the days afterwards.
The delayed effect of this drop is being felt in the total number of patients in hospitals across the UK, as from around mid-January this has been tumbling downwards too.
Despite earlier gambles and resisting calls to lockdown harder when Omicron was first discovered, the prime minister and government are coming under fire for a string of scandals and parties held across the pandemic.
Dozens of parties have been reported to have been held in No.10 and government departments as Johnson came out and said that no one told him partying was against the rules.
Johnson is now facing the publication of an inquiry into the parties which could make or break his premiership.
The investigation is being overseen by top civil servant Sue Gray and is expected to report this week.
