Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Avenue to attend the weekly session of Prime Minsters Questions at Parliament in London, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Avenue to attend the weekly session of Prime Minsters Questions at Parliament in London, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
LONDON — England’s deputy chief medical officer stated Wednesday that too many individuals consider the pandemic is over, warning that the U.Okay.’s very excessive coronavirus charges and rising deaths imply that there are “onerous months to come back within the winter.”
Jonathan Van-Tam additionally stated he was frightened that rising numbers of deaths confirmed infections had been “now beginning to penetrate into older age teams.”
Coronavirus “charges are nonetheless very excessive for the time being. They’re larger than in most of Europe,” Van-Tam instructed the BBC. “We’re operating fairly sizzling. And, after all, it is of concern to scientists that we’re operating this sizzling this early within the autumn season.”
“I personally really feel there are some onerous months to come back within the winter and it is not over,” he added.
The British authorities reported 41,299 new COVID-19 circumstances and 217 deaths Wednesday. The nation recorded its highest day by day loss of life toll since February – 293 – on Tuesday.
Whereas new circumstances have been dropping from round 46,000 a day in October, an infection charges in Britain are nonetheless a lot larger than in most of Europe.
Van-Tam stated the drop in case numbers primarily mirrored the ebbing of a surge just lately seen amongst youngsters. He warned that whereas hospital admissions have plateaued and whole numbers of sufferers in hospitals have barely gone down, the general image was nonetheless worrying.
“This might be a pause earlier than issues go up, it might be the very first indicators that issues are starting to stabilize however at a excessive charge,” he stated. “However my fear is that the deaths are rising and that reveals that the an infection is now beginning to penetrate into these older age teams.”
The U.Okay. obtained a head-start in rolling out its vaccination program, and most adults have been totally inoculated. A booster shot is being provided to hundreds of thousands, together with everybody over 50. However the authorities has been cautious about vaccinating youngsters and youthful individuals, authorizing jabs for wholesome kids between 12 to fifteen years previous solely this September.
Jeremy Brown, a member of the federal government’s vaccination advisory committee, stated it was “far too early” to comply with the lead of the USA in vaccinating kids 11 years previous and below.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative authorities lifted virtually all coronavirus restrictions in July, together with necessary face coverings and social distancing necessities. Nightclubs and crowded venues had been allowed to completely open and the do business from home recommendation was scrapped.
Authorities have resisted calls to reimpose restrictions like necessary mask-wearing, and are as a substitute relying closely on vaccines to maintain infections down.
