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Face masks will be compulsory in shops and on public transport in England, and UK arrivals are expected to have to take PCR tests from Tuesday in response to the new Omicron variant, BBC News reports.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the measures would help to ensure that people can "enjoy Christmas with our families".

Mr Javid said the government had acted "swiftly" and "in a proportionate way".

But a doctor who treated the variant said there had been unnecessary panic.

Meanwhile, adults aged 18 and over "will have an offer of a booster earlier than we had previously envisaged", the deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.

Professor Anthony Harnden said: "There is a very good, strong argument for raising the antibody level in the whole of the community. So accelerating the booster programme both by extending the age range and by reducing the interval between the second dose and the booster dose, would be a sensible strategy."

The government has stopped short of issuing advice to work from home and extending vaccine passports in England, which are part of its Plan B for winter - a contingency plan if intervention on Covid is needed to protect the NHS.

Mr Javid told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that the government "could not have acted more swiftly".

"The reason we've set out these measures yesterday is to protect the progress we've made so we can all continue to enjoy Christmas with our families," he said.

He said the UK would take further action "in a proportionate way wherever necessary" but he did not think working from home guidance was needed.

He did not outline when PCR tests for overseas arrivals would be required, saying it would be "as soon as possible" but he needed agreement from all UK four nations. The government website said the change would be implemented from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday.