British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Stow Health vaccination center in Westminster on December 13, 2021 in London, England.
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LONDON – UK leader Boris Johnson will speak to his top medical advisers on Monday before deciding whether to impose any new Covid-19 restrictions on Britain this week. Are not.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have begun new restrictive measures to help prevent the spread of the omicron variant, mainly focusing on indoor mixing. So far, however, Britain has delayed the addition of existing stay-at-home orders and increased mask wearing.
Johnson is reportedly releasing new data on Monday looking at case rates, hospitalizations and ICU figures, as well as deaths. The Christmas break meant official figures were halted over the weekend, but on Friday the UK reported a new record with 122,186 infections in a 24-hour period.
Johnson has previously said he wouldn’t hesitate to take action and put in new curbs after Christmas if needed, but research suggests that the omicron variant could be less severe than the delta strain that could put him on hold. blood. Information on the length of hospital stay and the number of infections leading to hospitalization will certainly be important factors.
Any new restrictions are likely to be unpopular within his own Conservative Party, with many lawmakers having staged an uprising against the prime minister recently. A significant number are dissatisfied with the current Covid restrictions as well as a flurry of derision, scandals and embarrassments in recent weeks. Johnson’s ratings were also hit hard in national polls.
The new measures would also have to be voted on by the House of Commons, and lawmakers would have to withdraw from their Christmas break. As a result, Johnson could just ask British citizens to be cautious ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations rather than introduce formal restrictions.
A UK government study published on Thursday reported that people were less likely to be hospitalized with the omicron Covid variant than with the previous delta strain.
The UK Health Security Agency says people with omicrons are estimated to be 31% to 45% less likely to go to emergency departments than those with delta, and 50 to 70% less likely hospitalized.
The analysis is “preliminary and highly uncertain” given the small number of omicron cases currently in hospital, but it tally with similar findings from scientists in South Africa and research groups at Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh.
While the number of daily deaths remains low for now and early research suggests the omicron variant may not be as severe as other Covid strains, health experts have repeatedly warned that the number of infections is too high. can lead to increased deaths and overwhelmed health care systems. .
The UK has reported nearly 12 million infections and 148,324 deaths since the pandemic broke out in early 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
– CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this article.
