Covid: Christmas flights cancelled and new curbs amid Omicron spread

Millions of people are facing travel disruption and increased Covid restrictions over Christmas, as the surging Omicron variant sees flights cancelled and safety curbs tightened.

Italy, Spain and Greece have made face masks compulsory outdoors again.

Catalonia, in northern Spain, has imposed an overnight curfew, and the Netherlands is in a strict lockdown.

Despite early findings that Omicron is milder than other variants, scientists are concerned by the number of cases.

Record infections were tallied in the UK, France and Italy on Thursday.

In the US, daily Omicron cases have risen beyond the peak of the recent Delta wave, and hospitals are filling up across the country.

"When we have millions and millions and millions of people, all sick, all together at one time, it doesn't take a large percentage of those people to topple over the hospitals," Dr Hallie Prescott, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times.