Great Britain could be close to the end of the pandemic – breaking latest news

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

LONDON – Great Britain could be heading towards the end of the pandemic: this is also supported by theWorld Health Organization, in light of the latest data that see the infections plummet. “Looking from the point of view of the United Kingdom – said David Nabarro, head of Covid to the WHO – it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel”. Therefore, “it is possible to imagine that the end of the pandemic is not too far away,” added Nabarro, although he warned that it will still be a “bumpy” path.

It is an optimism supported primarily by the British government: “There are encouraging signs that infections are falling across the country”the Downing Street spokesman said, adding that hospital admissions and admissions are also dropping or at least stabilizing.
The new cases of Covid are collapsed by more than 40 percent in one week: yesterday there were 84,000, compared to a peak of 190,000 on New Year’s Eve. Day admissions have also dropped 6 per cent since the start of the year and there are now only 623 people in intensive care in the whole of Britain.

This is why Boris Johnson could announce the end of the restrictions introduced with the arrival of the Omicron variant at the end of last year already this week. In particular, the green pass would be abolished (which here is valid only for discos and large events) and the recommendation to work from home suspended. As the only measure, they would remain masks in shops and on public transport: but already now several members of the conservative party are demanding that this last limitation also be removed, so as to return to full normality at the end of January, as had already happened last summer.

British scientists believe that Covid could be treated as a flu this year: “It will soon be just one cause of the common cold – said Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia -. We will need vaccine boosters for the most vulnerable, but I don’t see the need for general use of masks or tampons. In the end, we will live in a society where this virus circulates widely but no longer kills people».

It is the effect of the vaccination campaign, which here has seen over 60 percent of the over-12s already receive the third dose, but also of the choice to circulate the virus in society, in order to reach a certain level in a short time. of herd immunity: it is estimated that today 95 per cent of the British population have antibodies to Covid. A strategy that has not translated into a dramatic death toll: since the beginning of the pandemic, Great Britain has registered fewer deaths than Italy in relation to the population. “We are clearly going in the right direction – commented Dr. Simon Clarke, microbiologist at the University of Reading -. There is only a certain number of people left who can be infected and if the virus spreads among them quickly, it will run out of steam. People should get on with their life. “

On the other hand, public opinion already seems to have accepted the idea of ​​living with Covid. London is back in crowds and traffic on the streets is 70 per cent more intense than it has been in the last month; attendance on the subway increased by 8 per cent compared to last week and those on buses by 4 per cent, with 1 million 200 thousand travelers yesterday.