London, Thanasis Gavos
Existing epidemiological data on the coronavirus do not indicate the need for tougher restrictive measures in England, say British ministers, despite the large increase in hospitalizations of carriers of the virus in recent times.
On Monday morning, Education Minister Nadim Zahawi told Sky News that despite the increase in hospital admissions, the number of patients in intensive care units had decreased.
According to the latest aggregate data for the United Kingdom, last Wednesday the number of Covid providers increased to 11,918. On the contrary, fluctuations in the number of patients who need a respirator have been very limited for a month and a half. On Wednesday they numbered 868, ie at the same levels as at the end of October, when the number of hospitalizations was about 30% less.
The British minister noted that the Omicron variant forms a different treatment scenario from the Delta, which led to a larger number of patients on a ventilator and a longer duration of treatment in intensive care units.
He also pointed out that now with Omicron the proportion of virus carriers who are admitted to the hospital is higher for another reason, not because of the severity of the coronavirus infection.
The position that the epidemiological data do not justify taking action at the moment was also expressed on Sunday by the Minister despite the Prime Minister Steven Barkley and the Deputy Minister of Health Edward Argar.
However, Mr Zahawi acknowledged that the government was concerned about the growing number of people over the age of 50 in need of treatment for coronavirus infection. “If we see a greater outbreak of infections in those over 50, because so far most of the outbreaks of Omicron infections are focused on those under 50, then these people are more likely to end up with a serious infection and hospitalization,” he said. .
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics show that people over the age of 50 are less likely to be diagnosed positive for coronavirus compared to younger age groups. In the 50-69 age group, one in 50 and 70 years and over 140 are currently positive for the virus.
In contrast, in the ages 35-49 there is one carrier per 20 people, in the ages 25-34 one in 15, in the ages 12-24 one in 20 and in the ages 2-11 years one in 15 people.
On the other hand, Zahawi stressed, “the good news is that 90% of people over the age of 50 have received the booster dose of the vaccine, which is the real protection against serious infection and hospitalization.”
He added that “at the moment there is nothing in the data that indicates that we need to go further, but we will certainly look at the review of the measures on Wednesday and beyond that we will continue to monitor the data very carefully.” .
Sunday’s official figures for the United Kingdom showed 137,583 confirmed cases of coronavirus, although excluding cases from Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is a decrease from the 162,572 cases of the New Year, which concerned only England.
Scientists and public health officials have warned that a large increase in the number of cases could lead to an unmanageable number of hospitalizations, even if they are milder than previous waves of pandemics, especially since large numbers of NHS staff absent due to illness. The latest figures show that 110,000 of the 983,000 health care staff in England were absent last week, with half missing due to coronavirus.
Meanwhile, with the resumption of classes this week, secondary school students in England will be required to wear a mask and teaching time, in a measure that will be re-examined on 26 January.
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