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UK health experts warn government against Omicron spread in absence of 'stingent measures'

WION Web Team
London, United KingdomUpdated: Dec 11, 2021, 11:46 AM IST
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Britain's Home Secretary Sajid Javid has been warned against possible spread of Omicron variant. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Boris Johnson led government has been warned by experts that even if the Omicron variant is less serious than the Delta variant, the number of hospitalisations could reach the alarming stage of 5,000 patients per day

The Omicron variant has been widely spreading in the UK and the top health officials have been warned against it by health experts. Sajid Javid, UK’s health secretary, has reportedly received a presentation from UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) warning him about a possible incoming wave of Covid infections.

As per documents leaked to the Guardian, experts from UKHSA have sent a presentation to Javid on Tuesday that if the UK government fails to impose stringent measures against the Omicron variant of Covid, there is a possibility that the hospitalisations would increase alarmingly.

"The key point is that under a range of plausible scenarios, stringent action is needed on or before 18 December 2021 if doubling times stay at 2.5 days. Even if doubling times rise to around 5 days, stringent action is likely still needed in December," the report, seen by the Guardian, reads. "The rapid spread of Omicron means that action to limit pressures on the health system might have to come earlier than intuition suggests.”

Boris Johnson led government has been warned by experts that even if the Omicron variant is less serious than the Delta variant, the number of hospitalisations could reach the alarming stage of 5,000 patients per day.

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While the government had announced in undertones that the Plan B measures were, according to them, enough to stop the spread of the Omicron variant, cabinet minister Michael Gove, while heading a Cobra meeting on Saturday, admitted that the government has received ‘very challenging information’ about the seriousness and speed of the spread of the government.

UKHSA experts have warned the government that the daily infections could rise to 248,000 cases per day by December 19 if more stringent restrictions are not imposed soon. However, experts have also made it clear that this data is not a projection but simply an estimate or forecast on the basis of doubling times observed by experts in the UK till now.