The UK Covid alert level has been raised following a rapid increase in Omicron cases being recorded.

The last time the UK was at this level was between February and May of this year.

The country’s four chief medical officers and NHS England’s national medical director have recommended to ministers that the UK go up to Level 4 from Level 3.

However, this is a separate alert system to the one that is used by the Welsh Government to measure what restrictions are needed in Wales.

Wales currently remains in alert level 0 – which means that there are no restrictions on social contact and all business are allowed to open.

The UK Covid alert level describes the state of the virus in the country rather than a scale of restrictions.

Increasing the UK Covid alert level to Level 4 means the epidemic is “in general circulation, transmission is high and direct Covid-19 pressure on healthcare services is widespread and substantial or rising”, according to Government guidance.

There are five alert levels, with level five, the highest, meaning a real risk of the healthcare services being overwhelmed.

Read more: More than 2,500 new Covid cases in Wales today

In a joint statement, the CMOs and NHS England’s Professor Stephen Powis said the emergence of Omicron “adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services”.

They added: “Early evidence shows that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta and that vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced.

“Data on severity will become clearer over the coming weeks but hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly.”

The five officials, including Wales’ Dr Frank Atherton, England’s CMO Professor Chris Whitty, Northern Ireland’s Sir Michael McBride and Scotland’s Professor Gregor Smith said the NHS was already under pressure “mainly driven by non-Covid pressures”, with Omicron’s ability to escape vaccines “likely” to add to those demands.

“It is extremely important that if you are eligible, you get your Covid vaccination now – whether this be your first, second or booster dose,” they said.

“People should continue to take sensible precautions including ventilating rooms, using face coverings, testing regularly and isolating when symptomatic.”

The development comes as it was warned more restrictions may be needed to tackle Omicron, with the UK facing an “inevitable” large wave of infections.