The outbreak of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19 could result in a $50 billion loss for the UK economy due to unemployment and falling economic activity, The Sunday Times reported.

According to a report by the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) cited by The Sunday Times, the UK economy could lose £35 billion or $50 billion due to absenteeism. The UK government plans assume that Omicron would lead to a 25% absenteeism rate. This would bring down economic output in January and February, leading to a loss equivalent to 8.8% of GDP for the two months, the CEBR report stated.

An absenteeism rate of 8% among the UK workforce would result in a loss in output across January and February of £10.2 billion or 2.6% of GDP, the CEBR said.

“Even with only a peak of 8 per cent, there will be an economic cost. Nonetheless, we would expect that most of this would be made up during the rest of the year,”  Pushpin Singh, economist at the CEBR commented.

The daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the UK exceeded 200,000 in January 2022. The new wave of the pandemic began in late December 2021, when more than 100,000 daily infections were reported in the UK for the first time.

The current upsurge of infections in Europe was caused by the spread of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19. Due to its 32 mutations, Omicron is considered to be more infectious compared to other variants of the virus.