A further 218,724 cases of coronavirus and 48 COVID-related deaths have been recorded in the UK, official figures show.
The figures for the whole of the UK have been published after Bank Holiday, where only the UK published figures for both deaths and cases.
Today is the first time the UK has reported more than 200,000 COVID cases.
Follow live COVID updates from the UK and around the world
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Omicron ICU admissions are ‘flat’ – Javid
That comes as another 141,825 people got their booster jab – bringing the total to 34,363,986.
A further 19,158 people received a first dose, bringing the total to 51,820,652. And 29,295 people received a second dose, bringing the total to 47,482,789.
The latest figures from NHS England show that 14,210 patients with COVID were in hospital on 3 January, including 777 who needed mechanical ventilation.
The figures have been released as several hospitals declared critical incidents in which nurses called for more restrictions “without delay”.
In a letter to Health Minister Sajid Javid, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the NHS had “bad advice” on the current level of absenteeism, as it called for a “more cautious approach” to COVID restrictions in England.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
JCVI head on ‘how to live with COVID’
At a Downing Street press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that hospitals would be under increased pressure as the NHS moved to a “war base”.
But he said vaccination and treatments meant the government did not have to “close” the country again, where Omicron proved to be milder than previous variants.
Earlier, Mr Javid said there was nothing in the data to suggest that England had to move beyond the current Plan B restrictions, which include work from home and face masks on public transport.
“I think Plan B, implementing it, has been the right approach and also being absolutely focused on the vaccination program,” he told reporters during a visit to a vaccination center in south London.
Whitehall officials are keeping an “extremely close eye” on hospital capacity, with hospitalizations and occupancy “rising sharply,” Downing Street said.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We do not see the same leap in beds that require ventilation, which is gratifying and almost certainly a function of both the nature of Omicron and our successful booster program.”
He added that the vaccinations and “proof that Omicron can be milder” mean that “we do not see the huge waves in cases translated to those in need of the most serious care that we may have seen in previous waves , but it still puts the NHS under considerable pressure “.
Post a Comment