London, Jan 4 (IANS): UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the National Health Service (NHS) will be under "considerable" pressure in the coming weeks amid the latest Covid-19 wave triggered by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

"No question Omicron continues to surge through the country," Johnson said at a vaccination centre.

"I think we've got to recognize that the pressure on our NHS, on our hospitals, is going to be considerable in the course of the next couple of weeks, and maybe more."

Johnson said Omicron appears "plainly milder" than previous variants, but it would be "folly" to say the pandemic is over, Xinhua news agency reported.

He urged people to take a test before "meeting someone you don't usually meet" and to get first, second and third vaccine doses where possible.

The UK has so far reported 13,497,234 Covid-19 cases and 149,366 deaths.

More than 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 82 percent are fully inoculated, according to the latest figures.

More than 59 per cent have received booster jabs.