Covid-19: The logic behind England’s ‘coexistence with the virus’ that confirmed cases don’t have to be quarantined – BBC News

Due to lack of immunity, the newly arrived virus immediately killed many people, especially vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those already suffering from other chronic diseases.

In the UK, around 80% of deaths from Covid-19 are in the first 12 months of the outbreak.

Since the advent of the new crown vaccine and the promotion of vaccination, people have slowly begun to develop immunity, and more and more infected people have recovered and they have immunity in their bodies.

Looking at how many people have antibodies to the new crown disease, you can know how high the immunity is in this group.

Having new coronavirus antibodies in the body means that when faced with a new coronavirus invasion, the body’s immune system can recognize the new coronavirus and know how to fight it.

The Covid-19 vaccine started rolling out in the winter of 2020, when Britons had very low antibody levels, especially in the ageing population.

After more than a year, the situation is completely different now, no matter what age group, at least 97% of people have antibodies in their bodies.

In the elderly population, such high immunity is almost always due to three doses of the vaccine, and 95% of people over the age of 60 have received three doses of the vaccine.

Three doses of the vaccine provide strong protection and greatly reduce the chance of severe illness or death, even if infected with the new crown disease.

For example, a 70-year-old who has received three doses of the vaccine faces the same risk of the new coronavirus as a 40-year-old, which greatly reduces the mortality rate of the related virus.

Now our immune system is well trained to deal with the new coronavirus.

Although the emergence of the mutant strain Omicron (Omicron) has greatly increased the infection rate, the symptoms are milder, and the severe disease and mortality are lower, which further improves people’s immunity.

Influenza is difficult to compare to Covid-19, in part because there is no corresponding data for influenza, because we don’t have the same data records for influenza as we do for Covid-19.

But recently the death toll from the new coronavirus has been getting closer to the fatality rate of the flu.

The number of people dying from Covid-19 in the UK has averaged less than 300 a day in recent months, which is less than the peak of flu deaths during the winter months of 2017-18 during the last pandemic.

In other words, while Omicron caused a large number of confirmed cases of infection, the overall death toll did not exceed the death toll of a typical winter.

However, this comparison method ignores one factor, that is, the social contact between people has been relatively low due to the epidemic prevention measures in the past few months, especially the elderly and vulnerable groups with underlying health problems. It also reduces contact with the outside world.

Once the epidemic prevention measures are fully opened, these people are bound to increase social contact and face higher risks than in the past few months.

But new treatments continue to emerge, and there is reason to believe that the risks will gradually decrease as society as a whole returns to normal, and this month vulnerable people began to receive a new antiviral drug called “Paxlovid”, which is being tested in trials. It can reduce the hospitalization rate of new crown disease by 88%.

In addition, vulnerable groups, while at higher risk than others, have been at any time in the past, even during a pandemic.

With the relaxation of the new crown disease epidemic prevention measures, people have to learn to live with the new crown virus, which means that the British government no longer regards the new crown disease as a special and major health threat, so there is no need to spend huge resources on testing.

The British government said that during the new crown epidemic, the government has prepared 37 billion pounds for testing and tracing, including PCR testing centers, laboratories, free rapid screening test kits, etc.

This budget, although not completely spent, is still quite burdensome.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that in January alone, the cost of testing for the new crown virus was as high as 2 billion pounds.

Health experts agree that limited testing is still necessary, especially in special risk settings such as hospitals, and it is still necessary to retain new coronavirus testing.

Also, localized outbreaks require testing and tracing efforts, but not comprehensive ones.

The new crown virus is not over yet, the new crown virus is still highly and continuously spreading, and the human body’s immunity to the new crown virus will decline over time. After a prolonged period of time, people may still be infected and get sick, but the symptoms of repeated infection are expected to be mild.

Of course, the virus may continue to mutate, and the research of experts clearly shows the possibility of future outbreaks.

However, the initial emergence of the new coronavirus caused a large number of deaths and severe hospitalizations in a short period of time, according to scientific data, it is almost impossible to happen now.