the United kingdom It is in a “very worrying situation” with more than 58,000 new infections COVID-19 Housing Secretary Michael Gove said after Friday’s meeting, a record since January.
Heads of government of different countries in the UK had to contend with “very difficult information” during that meeting, which was chaired by the minister and focused on the health situation.
“We know that today we have the highest number of coronavirus infections in the UK since January 9,” Gove stressed on television.
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omicron variable expands
The number of variable cases omicron “It breeds every two or three days in England, and more quickly in Scotland,” he stressed.
In England, “30 percent of cases are omicron”, which was identified in the country just 15 days ago. Michael Gove said the variant spreads in such a way that even those vaccinated with two doses are at “risk of getting sick, infected and possibly hospitalized.”
The UK’s Health Security Agency revealed on Friday that if this prevalence rate continues, Omicron will be the dominant strain and could reach 1 million cases by the end of this month.
“It is estimated that if Omicron continues to grow at the current rate, the variant will become the dominant strain, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all COVID-19 infections in the UK by mid-December,” the agency said in a statement. .
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The booster dose may help control
The report also warns that “the efficacy of vaccines against omicron-variable asymptomatic diseases is significantly lower than that of the delta-variable.”
“Two doses of vaccination with BNT162b2 (Pfizer) or ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) are insufficient to provide adequate levels of protection against infection and mild disease using the omicron variant, although we cannot comment on protection against severe disease” due to a lack of data, the organism asserts.
At the same time, he asserts, Pfizer’s booster doses “provide a significant increase in protection against mild disease and may provide higher levels of protection against severe disease.”
To deal with this new wave of infections, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced an increase in remote work from Monday and the introduction of a health card for major events.
The UK is one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, with more than 146,000 deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic. Recently, he brought back measures to combat the new format, such as restrictions on borders and transportation or the use of masks in shops and public transportation.
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For its part, the Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the tightening of health rules. From this Saturday, people who share an address with a positive person will have to self-isolate for 10 days.
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With AFP and Evie
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