London: Thanasis Gavos
The actual cases of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom are estimated at 200,000 so far, according to estimates by the UK Health and Safety Service, which was invoked from the floor of the House of Commons by Health Minister Sajid Javid.
The Ministry of Health clarified after his speech that the minister inadvertently referred to 200,000 cases per day.
However, Mr. Javid confirmed, now the confirmed cases of the variant are 4,713, while there are ten hospitalizations and one death of its carriers. He did not provide further details about the patient who ended up, although as it became known he was diagnosed with Omicron after being admitted to the hospital.
Mr Javid recalled that there was a two-week delay between cases on the one hand and hospitalizations and deaths on the other, warning that “we can expect these numbers (hospitalizations and deaths) to increase dramatically in the coming days and weeks.” .
The minister also said that Omicron accounts for 20% of coronavirus cases in England, but more specifically in London is responsible for 44% of cases of the disease. He added that Omicron is expected to become the dominant variant in the capital within 48 hours.
Mr Javid also announced that the NHS public health system in England was at its highest level of emergency preparedness after months at Level 4, meaning that there would now be national rather than local coordination of care for Covid patients.
He confirmed that in order to achieve the goal of giving the booster dose to all adults in the country, some routine treatments should be postponed.
He said that 42 military planning teams are also involved in planning for the delivery of almost 1 million doses a day, in order to make closer use of the existing and new vaccination centers.
Mr. Javid also confirmed that from Tuesday, fully vaccinated people who come in contact with an Omicron case will no longer need to be isolated, but will be able to undergo daily rapid tests. He assured about the adequacy of the tests, despite the fact that from the morning any citizen trying to order the free tests from the government website sees that for the time being there are no more available, although he is referred to pharmacies and other local distribution centers.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health announced 54,661 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, of which 1,576 are of the Omicron variant.
41 deaths were also confirmed, while the third installments that have been administered have exceeded 23.5 million, ie they cover 41% of the population aged 12 and over.
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