Coronavirus: England has hundreds of thousands of new Omicron cases every day, government scientists say

Name: U.K. breaks daily Covid-19 record as Omicron likely to become dominant strain in E.U. by mid-January
Uploaded: 2021-12-19T12:20:04.000Z
Duration: 2 min 17 s
Description: U.K. breaks daily Covid-19 record as Omicron likely to become dominant strain in E.U. by mid-January

Infections could peak as high as 2 million a day some time between late December and January, the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said

Its advice to bring back Covid-19 restrictions creates a dilemma for Britain’s PM Boris Johnson, who has vowed not to put the country back into lockdown

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Protesters march against Covid-19 restrictions in London on Saturday. Photo: EPA

Bloomberg

Published: 8:20pm, 19 Dec 2021

England is “almost certain” to be suffering hundreds of thousands of Omicron variant cases a day, Britain’s top scientific advisers said as they urged the government to act within days to prevent hospitals being overrun.

“The earlier interventions happen, the greater the effect they will have,” the scientists said.

Levels of infection from the new strain are at their highest in London, the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, or SAGE, said in the minutes of its December 16 meeting, released on Saturday. Mayor Sadiq Khan earlier declared a “major incident” amid Omicron’s rapid spread across the capital, home to about 9 million people. The move allows the city to coordinate emergency services and access government support.

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U.K. breaks daily Covid-19 record as Omicron likely to become dominant strain in E.U. by mid-January

Without further restrictions from the government, new hospitalisations could reach a peak of at least 3,000 a day, SAGE said. To avoid that pressure, “more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon,” the panel said.

Because of the typical lag between infection and the development of more serious symptoms, there are likely to be between 1,000 and 2,000 admissions per day in England by the end of the year.

Still, it is not yet clear how severe, or mild, the variant is. South Africa, which first identified it, delivered some positive news on its own outbreak on Friday, reporting a much lower rate of hospital admissions and signs the wave of infection may be peaking.

The UK scientists said bringing back some of the restrictions used earlier in the year – including limits on household mixing and the closing of hospitality venues – could “substantially reduce” the peak in cases.

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