London: Crowds fill Parliament Square for covid protest
Amid a high number of cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, documents released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on Saturday revealed the bleak picture that advisers painted throughout December as the threat from the tribe rose. The advice included that indoor mixing is the “biggest risk factor” for the spread of the coronavirus variant, and that large gatherings risked creating “multiple spread events,” with Stephen Reicher, professor of social psychology at the University of St. Louis. Andrews and a member of Sage, and stressed that the time to act was “now”.
Meanwhile, the scientific pandemic influenza group on modeling, operational subgroup (SPI-MO), in documents released on Saturday but dated December 8, said that in almost all modeling “a significant reduction in transmission (equivalent in scale to the national lockdown implemented) in January 2021 and the pingmie “in July 2021) is required to keep hospital admissions below the height of previous peaks”.
The council from 10 days ago adds: “Previous interventions also reduce the wave of hospitalizations.”
Minutes from a meeting of sages on Thursday said stricter measures could be needed, including “reducing group sizes, increasing physical distance, reducing the duration of contacts and closing high-risk premises”.
Experts warned that even if transmission rates were reduced, hospitalization levels would likely be between 1,000 and 2,000 a day in the UK by the end of the year.
And modeling showed that if ministers stuck to the current Plan B measures, there would be a peak of 3,000 a day.
Boris Johnson has been warned that an immediate shutdown is needed (Image: GETTY)
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a major incident (Image: GETTY)
It comes as the number of deaths in England of people with the Omicron variant has risen to seven, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said from the previous figure of one.
Hospital admissions in the UK for people with confirmed or suspected Omicron increased to 85 from 65.
The UKHSA said there had been 10,059 further confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reported across the UK.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the variant in the UK to 24,968.
The documents said: “Some scenarios have significantly worse results during the first few months of 2022, but there are many uncertainties.”
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Protests against vaccine passports in London today (Image: GETTY)
And the promotion of the booster program would not help, as many of these admissions would be those that are infected now.
They warned that postponing the introduction of more stringent measures until 2022 would “greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions and make them less likely to prevent significant pressure on health and care environments”.
It comes after reports that officials had drawn up plans for a two-week switch lock after Christmas.
The Liberal Democrats have called for Parliament to be convened on Monday to discuss the next steps.
Party leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson has consistently reacted too late, missed opportunities and refused to act when researchers told him so.
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Sir Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrat (Image: GETTY)
“We can not allow the Prime Minister to sit on his hands while the NHS and companies are on the verge of collapse.
“Ministers need to explain the latest scientific advice to MPs and ensure a proper debate on what future Covid measures, including support to help companies through this increasingly difficult period.”
Earlier, Prof Reicher said it was clear that Plan B measures alone would not be enough to stop the growing number of cases.
Professor Reicher, who spoke to Times Radio in his personal capacity, said it was time to act now.
He explained: “The only way we really, or at least the most effective way we can have an immediate effect, is to reduce the number of contacts we have.
“In many ways, having a switch is the most effective way to reduce the contact.
“Now, you could get it after Christmas, the problem is after Christmas, it’s probably too late, it’s enough until then, we’ll have had a huge wave of infections with all that impact on society.
“When people say ‘look, we do not want to shut down’, then of course we do not want to shut down.
“But the problem at the moment is that things are shutting down anyway because of the spread of infection. So I think we need to act now.”
A government spokesman said: “The government will continue to look closely at all the new data and we will keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant.”
European countries with travel bans for British nationals (Image: GETTY)
Ministers received a briefing on Saturday on the latest situation regarding the Omicron variant.
There was no cabinet meeting or further discussion, but ministers received an update on the data around the variant.
While a Cobra meeting will be held this weekend with the decentralized nations.
A further 90,418 laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been registered in the UK at. 9 on Saturday, the government said.
Another 125 people died within 28 days of being tested positive for Covid-19.
Omicron: Sadiq Khan ‘incredibly worried’
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that 172,000 deaths have now been recorded in the UK, with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan today declared a major incident following a sharp rise in COVID-19 admissions in the capital.
Speaking during a visit to Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club, which is being used as a mass vaccination center, Mr Khan said: “I have made the decision in consultation with our partners to declare a major incident today.
“This is a statement about how serious things are.”
Labor Mayor Mr Khan also declared a major incident in January when rising COVID-19 cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
(More to come)
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