WHO issues holiday advisory amid worsening cases of COVID-19

The World Health Organization has urged people to cancel some of their holiday plans to protect public health, as the omicron variant spreads globally.

A number of countries have acted to try to halt the spread of the variant, including imposing travel curbs.

In the US, omicron is now dominant, accounting for 73% of new infections.

President Joe Biden is expected to address the nation on Tuesday but the white house said he was not planning on “locking the country down”.

The country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, earlier warned that Christmas travel would increase the spread of omicron even among the fully vaccinated

Americans are now advised against travelling to more than 80 nations that appear on the centers for disease control and prevention’s red list for COVID-19, including almost all of Europe.

France and Germany are among the nations imposing travel curbs to tackle omicron, while the Netherlands has introduced a strict lockdown over the Christmas period.