London Thanasis Gavos
The Omicron variant has now become dominant in London as it accounts for more than 50% of Covid cases confirmed in the British capital based on preliminary data, the city’s public health inspector told the local Evening Standard newspaper.
Professor Kevin Fenton said analyzes of confirmed case samples confirmed that Omicron had overtaken the Delta. The figures have not yet been confirmed by the UK Health Service (UKHSA), but on Monday Health Minister Sajid Javid said Omicron would be the dominant variant in London until Wednesday afternoon.
Professor Fenton also said that the number of coronavirus carriers in London had risen to 1,360, the highest number since early March, when the city was in the second wave of a pandemic. The majority of them are not fully vaccinated and “almost all” are carriers of the Delta variant.
It is noted that up to 2 million people in the British capital have not been vaccinated against coronavirus.
With the NHS public health system at the highest level of alert now due to an expected increase in hospitalizations and due to the acceleration of the vaccine booster dose program, a call has been made to strengthen the nursing staff.
A spokesman for Abicare, a home care company, told the Guardian that it had begun recruiting additional British nurses living in Greece, Spain and elsewhere to meet the needs of recovering patients being transported from London hospitals to hotels. to empty beds for Covid patients.
The concern of the British health authorities for the dispersal of Omicron was made clear by officials of various organizations who submitted this morning to the parliamentary committee on Science and Technology.
UKHSA chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins said the doubling time of Omicron infections was decreasing from two days to three days. He added that the data show that the risk of re-infection with the coronavirus due to Omicron is three to eight times higher than before.
The head of the data department of the same service, Professor Steven Riley, noted, however, that there would be a physical limit to the duration of variation of the variant at this very high rate.
Dr Hopkins also called on the country’s residents to undergo a rapid test before leaving home for crowded places.
At the same time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the cabinet, which met by teleconference months later, that “there is a huge upsurge in Omicron.” England chief professor Chris Whitey told ministers that a “significant increase in hospitalizations” was expected due to the Omicron variant.
However, appearing in a video link to the British Parliamentary Committee, the head of the Medical Association of South Africa, Angelique Kouji, said that there was no reason for stricter restrictive measures as Omicron’s cases are mostly mild.
He called on the people to be vaccinated, to wear a mask and to avoid large gatherings.
In another debate in the House of Commons, the British Minister of Health announced the removal from the red travel list of all 11 African countries that were on it, as the Omicron variant is now widespread in the United Kingdom. However, the diagnostic tests required for visitors from all foreign countries will be maintained.
He reiterated that while the number of identified Omicron cases in the UK is 4,713, UKHSA estimates that there are in fact more than 200,000 new Omicron infections every day.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
.
