On July 13, the number of victims of Covid in Great Britain it has reached the sad record: 200,000 since the beginning of the pandemic, a European record in absolute value but lower than Italy in relation to the number of inhabitants. Appeals to reintroduce masks by doctors have fallen on deaf ears, a monitoring by King’s College of London reported 349 thousand infections a day and 4.2 million positive people, as in the most acute phase of the New Year. But the scenario that presents itself now, experts warn, is a state of emergency: the United Kingdom is at the beginning of a new “devastating” wave that this winter could paralyze the national health system “already on its knees”. The fault of the variants of Omicron able to circumvent immunity, considering that in the week from 12 to 17 September the cases have increased by 14%.
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FEW TESTS
An in-depth study published by the Daily Mail newspaper reports the first data that reveal how the new Omicron sub-variants are “evolving”, crumbling the immunity wall created by vaccinations and infections. Some scientists fear that the new “immune-evasive” variants may cause “real problems” to health care that in winter also has to deal with flu peaks in addition to the expected physiological increase of the coronavirus. For many experts, in fact, “the autumn wave is inevitable”. Despite fears of a resurgence, however, the government led by Liz Truss is unlikely to carry over the restrictions of the pandemic era as the immunity rate has weakened the disease making it much like a flu.
The numbers are worrying anyway: around 1.1 million Britons are currently infected, statisticians estimate, with a first leap in mid-July as the summer wave peaked and ministers faced calls to reintroduce some of the removed restrictive measures. by the government as part of the “living with Covid” strategy. Experts heard by the Daily Mail argue that a reduction in the number of tests and inadequate monitoring of the new immune sub-variants created the “perfect storm” favoring another peak of infections. “It looks like we are at the start of the next wave and this time it hit the elderly slightly before the last one,” Professor Tim Spector, epidemiologist and co-founder of the Covid Zoe app, told The Independent. Adding that the symptoms present themselves slightly differently, so many do not think they are infected and do not get tested. ‘Many people are still using government guidelines on symptoms that are wrong,’ says Professor Spector. “In two thirds of cases the first alarm bell is a sore throat, fever and loss of smell are really rare now. So one is led to think of a simple cold ».
UK ‘blind’ to new Covid variants creating ‘perfect storm’ for devastating wave https://t.co/F8Qdneg1SS
— The Independent (@Independent) October 3, 2022
COUNTERMEASURES
For Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, “attention has fallen on anti-Covid tests and this is a problem. We can detect variants or know what is happening by sequencing from molecular tests and this is nowhere near happening to the extent it was a year ago. People will have various infections during the winter, but they won’t know what it is because there are no free tests available. ‘ Scientists found that the new variants of Omicron – BA.2.75.2 derived from BA.2 and BQ1.1 derived from BA.5 – were able to partially escape the immune system. ‘The interesting thing about these mutations is that although they are slightly different in how they originated, they have made the same changes to bypass the body’s immune system,’ Professor Young points out. “The main concern is that, from early data, we see how these variants are causing a slight increase in infections. In a way, that was to be expected, but it shows that we are not out of danger with this virus yet, unfortunately ». Spector and Young, writes the Daily Mail, have asked the government to send “stronger and more proactive messages” in view of the impending winter. Professor Young, relaunching the appeals of public health experts, urged citizens to undergo booster vaccinations: the new bivalent serums fight multiple variants and this “is the key to preventing a devastating wave”. The virologist also asked to reintroduce the use of the mask “in crowded interior spaces and poorly ventilated areas”.