London, Thanasis Gavos
Infections caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom are currently at the level of infections that existed in the country at the peak of the second wave of the pandemic in early 2021 and continue to increase, according to British scientists.
Graham Medley, a professor of computer models for infectious diseases at the School of Health and Tropical Medicine in London, one of the Johnson’s most influential scientific advisers, told the BBC: “The number of Omicron infections is growing. “We are probably now at the level we were in January and it really looks like the growth will continue beyond that.”
Professor Medley noted that compared to January the population of Britain is now very vaccinated and also a significant percentage is infected with coronavirus, which theoretically means that the virus “will appear much less serious”.
However, he warned that the expected large number of infections could lead to a large number of hospitalizations, putting serious pressure on the NHS public health system. “I think it is a very realistic possibility, if the number of infections continues to increase in this way and it starts to affect older people, to see the number of people admitted to hospital become very large and certainly exceed a thousand. “, maybe up to 2 thousand a day”, added the British expert.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee shortly afterwards, Dr Jenny Harris, chief executive of the UK Health and Safety Service, revealed that Omicron infections now double every 1.9 days. “It’s probably the most significant public health threat we’ve faced since the beginning of the pandemic,” Dr. Harris was quoted as saying by Omicron.
She also stressed that although the severity of the symptoms caused by Omicron in most cases is not yet known, the huge number of infections it causes is enough to bring the NHS to a state of saturation.
According to Politico, government scientific advisers estimate that the actual new infections that Omicron will cause in the UK today alone will be between 300 and 400 thousand, with particular concern for London, where the variant has become predominant. It is believed that there are more carriers of the coronavirus in the capital at this time than at any other time in the pandemic.
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