Covid: Website crashes as thousands try to book boosters

Thousands of people trying to book their Covid booster jabs in England on Monday has led to the NHS website crashing, the government has said.

More than 110,000 people booked a booster before 09:00 GMT, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.

And the ordering of lateral flow kits from the UK government website has been temporarily suspended amid high demand.

It comes after the PM said boosters would be offered to over-18s by the end of the year.

Boris Johnson also said fully jabbed people would be advised to do daily tests after contact with a Covid case from Tuesday.

Mr Javid tweeted: "We are seeing record demand for bookings as we ramp up our booster programme to protect the nation against the Omicron variant."

The NHS confirmed 750,000 people were able to book a Covid booster appointment over the weekend.

Long queues at walk-in vaccine centres in England were also reported on Monday after Boris Johnson announced an expansion to the booster rollout on Sunday evening, in response to the Omicron variant.

At least one person in the UK has died with Omicron, the prime minister confirmed on Monday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 10 people, aged between 18 and 85, had been hospitalised with the variant in England.

It added all were diagnosed on or before admission to hospital and the majority had received two doses of a vaccine.

Online bookings for the over 30s opened on Monday, while 18-29 year olds are due to begin booking their booster jabs on Wednesday.

An NHS Digital spokesperson said: "The vaccine booking service is facing extremely high demand and is operating a queuing system to manage numbers.

"We would advise people currently unable to book to try again later today or tomorrow."

The prime minister's official spokesman said the NHS was making sure there was "further capacity" on the website to book booster jabs in an effort to "adapt to the increased demand".

Jo, 37, from Cambridge told the BBC it had taken her three hours to book an appointment for January and she had gone "round in circles" before managing to do so.

To reach the government's boosters target for all adults in England to be offered a booster by the end of the month, one million doses would have to be administered daily.

More than 500,000 booster jabs and third doses were given in the UK on Saturday, the second day that has happened since the booster rollout began.

The UK recorded 48,854 cases on Sunday, as well as 52 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Separately, there has been an issue with the ordering of lateral flow tests from the government's website, which earlier said "there are no more home tests available".

The UKHSA said ordering lateral flow tests online had been temporarily suspended to "fulfil existing orders" because of "exceptionally high demand".

It added: "Everyone who needs a lateral flow test can collect test kits - either at their local pharmacy, some community sites and some schools and colleges."

Asked about the issue with ordering rapid tests, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a "ready supply".

He added: "But what I think, if I may say so, what that also shows is that people are doing the sensible thing and getting tests as well."

Government sources told the BBC the problem would be resolved in a matter of hours after the rapid tests were restocked.

The Welsh government said lateral flows were "readily available through pharmacies and community collection sites".

A spokesperson said: "We would encourage people to use any test kits they may already have at home before ordering more."

The rush for tests followed news that from Tuesday, people who have been in contact with a Covid case will not need to isolate if their daily tests remain negative for seven days, and if they have had at least two vaccine doses.

Anyone who has a positive result from a rapid test should take a PCR test to verify the result, as well as continue to self-isolate.

Meanwhile, large queues for booster jabs have been forming at vaccination points around England.

At Wimbledon's Centre Court shopping centre in south-west London, the queue for walk-in jabs stretched from one end of the building to the other after just 30 minutes of being open.

By 09:00 GMT, more than 100 adults - mostly under-40s wearing masks and some with babies in buggies - were waiting.

In the West Midlands, a long queue of about 200 people was seen at a car park and side roads at the back of the vaccination centre in Lye, near Stourbridge.

People at the front said they had waited for about an hour to reach the entrance, with some people with booked appointments choosing to leave after being forced to wait.

However, many queuing for a vaccine outside a pharmacy in Bedford have told the BBC that boosters are "worth the wait", with one woman explaining she was try to get hers after a double-jabbed relative was struggling to breathe with Covid.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed 750 members of the military have been deployed to speed up the rollout of the booster programme.

He said: "Our armed forces will help to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible as we continue our efforts to support the UK's response to the pandemic."

On Monday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned the UK was in a "race between the virus and the vaccine" over the spread of Omicron.

He said the new highly-transmissible Covid-19 variant was spreading at a "phenomenal rate", with cases doubling every two to three days.

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