The UK recorded the first Covid death with the Omicron variant. This was stated by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, during a visit to the vaccination center near Paddington, in west London. “Unfortunately yes, Omicron is leading to hospitalizations and unfortunately it has been confirmed that at least one patient has died with this variant,” confirmed the Downing Street boss.
State of emergency? This is why the next ten days are decisive
ilario lombardo
The British premier stressed that the idea that Omicron is a less dangerous variant is to be “put aside” and that it is necessary “to simply recognize the pace at which it accelerates through the population.” “So the best thing we can do is get vaccinated with booster doses,” he concluded. About 40% of new Covid infections registered in London are caused by the Omicron variant. This was stated by the British Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, worried by the exponential increase in cases, which tend to double within two to three days. With these rhythms the Omicron is destined to quickly overcome the Delta, thus becoming dominant.
Long lines are registered today in vaccination centers in the United Kingdom after the appeal launched Sunday evening by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to invite people to receive the third dose, necessary to deal with the wave of infections caused by the omicron variant. The line outside St. Thomas’ Hospital on the south bank of the River Thames in London stretched across Westminster Bridge to Parliament. The website for booking appointments was overloaded with the number of questions. The National Health Service has advised people to try to access the site later in the day or on Tuesdays if they run into problems.
Johnson has set a goal of offering the third dose to all over 18s by the end of the year in England, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also expected to speed up their vaccination campaign. In the UK, over 80% of people aged 12 and over have received two doses of the vaccine and 40% of adults three. Giving the boosters to the rest of the population by the end of the month will be a huge challenge, requiring inoculation of nearly 1 million doses per day. Johnson acknowledged that many routine medical procedures would have to be postponed to achieve the goal.
Ricciardi on the possible state of emergency: “Urgency still to be extended, strong choices will be needed in January”
FRANCESCO RIGATELLI
Norway towards new restrictions
«The situation is serious. The spread of infections is too high and we must act to limit it “. So Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announced to the Ntb news agency his intention to introduce new restrictions to limit the circulation of the coronavirus. The aim is to “prevent the health service from being overloaded” and to “ensure that the social and economic burden does not become greater”. In Norway, hospital admissions are higher than ever since the start of the pandemic, with 331 hospitalized yesterday. At the same time, the infection continues to increase and just over 32,000 new cases have been registered in the past week alone. In a new risk assessment, the National Institute of Public Health predicts that the Omicron variant will lead to “significantly greater spread of infection” in the future.
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