Hospitals are likely to see a high rise in demand to admit Covid patients which will be more serious than the first wave, the chief medical officer has told MPs.

Professor Chris Whitty was facing scrutiny from a cross party backbench committee today about the new strain of the virus and its potential impact.

He warned that admissions could surpass previous admissions rates that peaked at 4,500 daily in January.

Sevenoaks MP Laura Trott asked how serious the situation would be for hospitals dealing with the new wave.

Professor Whitty said the NHS was working against a backdrop of uncertainty over how serious the new variant might be.

“We don't yet know for sure…We know it's not trivial, beyond that we don't know. And on the effects of booster vaccines, we don't know but if they fall our way the numbers will be less concerning.”

“So I think planning on that basis, the numbers in hospital over a short period could be very high, potentially. And that the biggest issue here is it is all going to come in a very concentrated time. "The same number spread over three months might be something which is much easier to handle than the numbers we might see over a very short period of time, so that's really the issue.”

He added that pressures on hospitals would be exacerbated by the likelihood of staff shortages because they too would be vulnerable.

“So you're going to have both a reduction in supply and an increase in demand in the health service over a very short time period. And that really is the reason why we're all taking this extremely seriously.”

Professor Whitty told the committee that 'the top end of expectations' would be if 6% of over-65s who catch Omicron are hospitalised - the same rate as was seen for the Delta variant.

England's chief medical officer was also pressed by the Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark over the advice he was publicly giving and whether that conflicted with the government’s own advice.

“Will you be able to intervene and stand down your advice to minimise social contacts, for example, to advise that the Plan B restrictions should be stood down before the time that they expire at the end of January?”

“So you're going to have both a reduction in supply and an increase in demand in the health service over a very short time period..."

Professor Whitty said: “I am really cautious about making policy on the basis that everything might go right. That is not in my view, a sensible basis on which to make decisions and make decisions based on the range of possibilities rather than just assuming everything's going to fall my way.”

“I am very confident as you imply that there will be an exit strategy, when it will be and how quickly we will reach it depends on a lot of factors we currently don't know and that fundamentally is really where we are at this point in time.”

Yesterday, Boris Johnson urged every adult in the country to get "get boosted now" as Omicron continues to spread.

Professor Whitty warned at the briefing in Downing Street that "records will be broke a lot over the next few weeks" as the rates continue to rise.

But the Prime Minister added that admissions are coming down among vulnerable age groups where "boosters are in arms".

Mr Johnson also said we are “seeing signs of hope” as a “great national fightback has begun” to get booster jabs.

He told how everyone over 18 in England can use the national booking service to "get boosted now" from two months after their second dose.