Britain began its mass vaccination campaign just over a year ago.
London:
The UK on Sunday raised its Covid Alert Level due to the “rapid increase” in cases of the Omicron variant, as the government announced new measures to control its spread.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under pressure over claims he and his staff flouted Covid restrictions last Christmas, is due to deliver a speech to the nation at 2000 GMT.
He is expected to speak about the country’s strengthening program.
The decision to increase the five-stage public health risk assessment from level three to level four comes after an additional 1,239 confirmed cases of the variant were recorded on Sunday.
That brings the total number of Omicron cases in the UK to 3,137 – up 65% from Saturday’s total of 1,898.
Britain began easing restrictions on the coronavirus in June and the alert level is at stage 3, meaning the epidemic is circulating.
Level four means “contagion is high and pressure on health care services is widespread and significant or growing”.
The four chief medical officers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland said the move was prompted by advice from the UK’s Health Security Authority, a public health body.
“COVID-19 transmission is already high in the community, still largely driven by Delta, but the arrival of Omicron adds to the risk and rapid increase for public and health services,” they said. know in a joint statement.
“Early evidence suggests that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta and that the vaccine’s ability to protect against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced.
“Severity data will become clearer in the coming weeks but hospitalizations from Omicron have been and are happening and these cases are likely to increase rapidly.”
Officers said boosters are important because the vaccine’s protection is reduced with Omicron, and that both the third injections used – Pfizer and Moderna – boosted the immune response and showed ” good result”.
The move is designed to relieve already-raised pressure on the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which is dealing with seasonal respiratory infections such as the flu.
New measures
The government previously announced additional measures to prevent the spread of Omicron after face masks were made mandatory in many indoor public places last Friday.
From Tuesday, fully immunized contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19 will be required to perform lateral flow tests daily for seven days.
But those who have not received a dose or two of the Covid vaccine will have to self-isolate for 10 days, the Ministry of Health and Social Care said.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The Omicron variant is rapidly gaining ground in the UK and is expected to become the dominant strain by mid-December,” Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.
“We are taking this more commensurate and practical measure to limit the impact on people’s daily lives while helping to reduce the spread of Omicron.”
The government has set itself a target of giving everyone 18 years of age and older a booster shot by the end of January and opened the program to those over 30 on Tuesday.
This announcement adds to proposals from Johnson to combat Omicron, including a return to work from home if possible from Monday and the introduction of vaccine passports in certain facilities from Monday. Private.
MPs voted to put the proposals into law on Tuesday, with Johnson facing a potentially sizable rebellion from his own Conservative colleagues.
However, the vote is likely to be passed with Labor’s backing.
Britain – one of the countries hardest hit by Covid-19 with more than 146,000 deaths – started a mass vaccination campaign just over a year ago.
The infection rate remains high, around 50,000 positive tests per day. In London, Omicron accounts for about a third of all Covid-19 infections.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
