Omicron accounts for 20% of Covid cases in England
Posted on December 14th, 2021
Courtesy BBC
- Health Secretary Sajid Javid tells MPs Omicron represents 20% of Covid cases in England
- Hospitalisations and deaths, he adds, are expected to “dramatically increase” in the next few weeks
- In response, England and Scotland have set new targets to give boosters to all eligible adults who want one by the end of the month
- There have been long queues at walk-in vaccination sites and the NHS booking site has experienced technical problems due to demand
- Free lateral flow tests appear to have run out for people to order online but Boris Johnson says there are “ample supplies” in pharmacies
- One person in the UK has died with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the PM earlier confirmed
- Labour leader Keir Starmer will deliver a pre-recorded address at 19:00 GMT tonight on BBC One, responding to the prime minister’s message last night
- The UK has reported 54,661 new infections and a further 38 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
- There are 4,713 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant and at least one person in the UK has died with the variant
- The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 10 people, aged between 18 and 85, had been hospitalised with the variant in England.
- Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs that Omicron now represented 20% of cases in England
- Javid also warned that hospitalisations and deaths were likley to “dramatically increase” in the next few weeks
- The NHS website for booking vaccinations crashed and ordering lateral flow tests from the government website was temporarily suspended amid high demand
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he “certainly broke no rules” amid questions over government parties during lockdown restrictions last Christmas
- US Open champion Emma Raducanu has had to withdraw from the Mubadala World Tennis Championships after testing positive for coronavirus