UK's gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.2% in December - as many people worked from home and avoided Christmas socialising due to the Omicron coronavirus variant - following growth of 0.7% the month before, official data showed.
Statistics reveal that Britain suffered a smaller economic hit than feared in December as Covid-19 cases mounted, capping a historic two-year collapse and rebound for the world's fifth-biggest economy, but surging inflation is set to slow the recovery in 2022.
The slump and rebound are the biggest among the Group of Seven rich nations, in part reflecting
Britain's high number of Covid-19 deaths and reliance on consumer-facing services but also different conventions for measuring public-sector output.
Covid-19 infections have fallen sharply since the turn of the year and the Bank of England expects
output, measured on a quarterly basis, will return to its pre-pandemic size by the end of March.
