Despite the growing number of cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will not bring in new restrictions this year in England to limit the spread of Omicron, which now accounts for 90% of all community infections, reports Asian Lite News
Britain reported 183,037 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a new record and over 53,000 more than the previous highest figure registered just a day earlier, government statistics showed.
The rise, sparked by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus, also coincides with an increase in the number of patients in hospital who have tested positive for coronavirus.
Despite the growing number of cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will not bring in new restrictions this year in England to limit the spread of Omicron, which now accounts for 90% of all community infections, according to health officials.
Johnson said the high number of people who had received Covid booster shots, which now stands at more than 33 million or about 58% of the population aged over 12, meant there was no need for new rules ahead of New Year celebrations.
“Enjoy New Year sensibly and cautiously,” he said. “We’ve got cases certainly going up, we’ve got a lot of cases of Omicron, but on the other hand we can see the data about the relative mildness of Omicron.” The data, which included five days of figures for Northern Ireland due to differences in reporting practices over the Christmas holidays, showed the number of cases had risen from Tuesday’s previous high of just under 130,000 and were up 41.4% in the last seven days.
Hospitalisations have also been rising sharply and according to official figures, there were 10,462 people in hospital in England with Covid-19 on Wednesday, up by 916 from the previous day.
Of these, 771 needed to be in mechanical ventilation beds, a figure that has changed little during December.
Johnson said he had been told by some doctors that up to 90% of patients with COVID in intensive care had not received their booster vaccines.
Johnson urged people to get “vital” booster jabs, saying “the overwhelming majority” of those currently going into intensive care in our hospitals have not had the booster jab.
He cited doctors as saying “the numbers are running up to 90 percent of people in intensive care who are not boosted”.
Johnson defended his decision not to tighten virus curbs in England over the festive period, while Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have limited social contacts and closed nightclubs.
The high take-up of boosters in England “is allowing us to go ahead with New Year in the cautious way that we are,” he said.
The government also factored in “the data about the relative mildness of Omicron”, Johnson said.
He stressed the “very, very clear effect of getting those jabs, of boosters in particular,” saying “that’s what’s making a huge difference”.
There were also 57 deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, up from 18 on Tuesday, but well below the numbers being reported earlier this month.
Over 10,000 in hospitals with virus
The number of people in hospital with Covid in England topped 10,000 on Wednesday, the highest total since March, as UK case numbers hit a new record.
According to updated government figures, there were 10,462 people in hospital with Covid in England on Wednesday morning, the highest level since March 1. Fresh UK-wide data was not available.
More than 33 million people in the UK have had booster jabs, while Johnson has vowed to every adult an appointment by the end of the year.
The UK Health Security Agency tweeted that it was delivering record numbers of kits and more would become available.
The London Fire Brigade said more than 700 firefighters had tested positive or were self- isolating, taking more than a third of its fire engines off the road.
The UK has been one of Europe’s worst hit with a death toll of 148,089.
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