THERE are no confirmed cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in Dorset, despite a number of cases appearing in neighbouring Hampshire.

Earlier today, Public Health Dorset has confirmed there are no cases of Omicron in the county as of Tuesday, December 7.

Omicron appears to be "more transmissable"

Boris Johnson told ministers earlier today that the Omicron variant of coronavirus appears to be “more transmissible” than Delta.

The Prime Minister updated his Cabinet on the latest situation on Tuesday morning, as a scientist warned cases of the Omicron variant in the UK are soon expected to be higher than in some African countries placed on the travel red list.

New travel rules designed to slow the spread of the Omicron variant will see all travellers having to take a pre-departure test before travelling to England from Tuesday, December 7.

READ MORE: New Omicron variant travel restrictions in effect from today - the list in full

This is in addition to a compulsory test that travellers need to take two days after entering the UK.

In spite of this, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs on Monday that “multiple regions of England” were seeing cases of the variant that were not linked to international travel.

And he said he could not guarantee the variant would not “knock us off our road to recovery”, as he said the “the window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for the Omicron”.

READ MORE: Omicron variant of Covid now circulating in community

Southampton Public Health announced on Monday, December 6, that there were four confirmed cases across the city - they were all linked either to international travel or contact with someone who had arrived from overseas.