A sense of impending doom is hanging over Britain in the build up to Christmas. 

More than 12-thousand new Omicron cases are confirmed in the UK, as Covid numbers soar close to 83-thousand.  

That's down from the record highs of the past couple of days, but up week on week. 

The Government's Cobra emergency committee sat down about two hours ago.  

UK correspondent Vincent McAviney told Tim Dower there's a feeling Christmas has been cancelled. 

“Where I am right now, just off Oxford Street, which is normally, on any given day, the busiest shopping street in Europe, well in the build-up to Christmas it’s absolutely carnage normally, and it is deathly quiet.” 

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