The UK last night raised its pandemic alert levels as the number of COVID infections reached its highest point for nearly a year.
The government sought to step up the vaccine booster programme, warning of a “tidal wave” of omicron variant infections on the way.
It gained backing from many senior doctors, concerned about the risks of further pressure on the NHS.
A statement issued by the UK’s four chief medical officers said: “Transmission of COVID-19 is already high in the community, mainly still driven by Delta, but the emergence of Omicron adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services.
“Early evidence shows that Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta and that vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced. Data on severity will become clearer over the coming weeks but hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly.
“When vaccine protection is reduced in the way that is happening with Omicron it is essential to top up that protection with a booster. Both booster vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) increase the immune response substantially and show good effectiveness although with some reduction compared to Delta.
“The NHS is currently under pressure mainly driven by non-COVID-19 pressures. With a variant spreading with increased transmissibility and reduced vaccine effectiveness, we are likely to see this pressure rise soon.”
In a television broadcast last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “No one should be in any doubt there is a tidal wave of omicron coming.”
UK reported the largest number of new cases of infection since January over the weekend – with 57,335 cases reported on Friday and 48,854 yesterday. There were 52 new deaths yesterday and 150 on Friday. In South Africa there has been a major surge in infections but few signs of increased deaths so far. Yesterday the country reported 37,875 cases of infection and 21 deaths – a doubling of case numbers in one day but a reduction in daily deaths.
Latest published figures for COVID hospitalisations in the UK show little sign of numbers increasing. On Friday hospitals in England had 6,088 infected patients, below the autumn peak of 7,535 in early November.
A joint statement from the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine said: “With the NHS facing the worst winter in memory, staff and resources are being pushed to the limit. It is paramount that the government and the public do everything they can to help protect the country from increasing rates of COVID infections and curb pressure on critical care services. We are grateful for everything people are already doing.
We encourage all eligible members of the public to get their vaccinations and their booster jabs to reduce the risk of severe illness from COVID, and to follow the new guidance. This includes wearing face masks in public indoor settings and working from home if possible
“The pandemic has placed significant strain on all services across the healthcare sector and with some ICUs already at maximum capacity there is a substantial risk that services will become overwhelmed within weeks. This will impact not only patients in the ICU but also the millions of patients currently waiting for surgery.
“It is a sad truth that if infection rates and hospitalisations increase, we will see elective services suspended in many areas, as hospitals struggle to cope.”
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Nursing staff have already played a leading role in the delivery of the vaccination programme and they stand ready to continue to do the same again.
“However, we are concerned about the scale and pace of this expansion, given these same nurses are already facing huge demands under existing unsustainable pressures in every part of the UK health and care system.
"Which is why the government must be prepared to take every step needed to slow the spread. Nursing staff know the reality of acting too late and will expect those lessons to have been learnt to protect services now.”
Speaking on the BBC Andrew Marr Show, UK Health Security Agency chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins said it remained “too early” to make assumptions about the severity of the new variant – but, she said, there is a wave “coming straight at us.”
“We are worried and we’re right to be worried. We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” she said.
“I think our job is to highlight that this is a big wave. It’s coming straight at us. If we see even half the severity that we saw with Delta, then we’re facing a very large number of hospitalisations and potential deaths.
“We are getting reports of individuals coming into hospital over the last few days with Omicron and we are investigating those carefully with the hospitals concerned.
“We’re also seeing hospitals diagnose more and more people coming through their emergency departments, and we expect to see increases in that number.
“But it’s really important to remember it is just over two weeks since we first detected the cases in the United Kingdom, and that hospitalisations start to be seen in about two weeks and deaths usually at three to four weeks.”
Leave a Reply