A transparency row over No10’s handling of Omicron data deepened today as Dominic Raab claimed 250 people were in hospital with the variant — before correcting the figure to just nine.
Yesterday, the Government received a lot of criticism for annoucing yesterday’s first Omicron-related death, without providing information about the victim’s condition or age.
Asked how many people were hospitalised with the super strain during a round of interviews this morning, the Justice Secretary Mr Raab said the figure was ‘in the low hundreds, I think 250 the last time I looked’.
In a separate interview Mr Raab indicated that he believed there were nine patients in the hospital.
MailOnline was informed by a spokesperson from the UK Health Security Agency, (UKHSA), that 10 Omicron-infected individuals had been admitted to hospitals as of yesterday. The 250 number is incorrect.
MailOnline received a warning from doctors last night that Omicron Statistics was creating an “unnecessary alarm” after it announced the first Omicron-related death.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid created more confusion within the Commons when he said that there were 200,000 Covid infection per day (20 per cent Omicron).
Later, the UKHSA reported that there had been 200,000 Omicron infection cases. This puts the country at risk of having an incredible 1million Omicron cases each day within the next week.
Sky News asked Justice Minister how many super-strain patients were in hospital. The minister replied that the number was “in the low hundreds”, 250 according to the last I checked.” BBC Breakfast: Mr Raab says that nine people are currently in hospital because of the strain.
Following the UK’s confirmation of 1,239 more Omicron-related cases in the UK, the UK Covid Alert level was elevated to 4 from 3
Sky News’ Omicron hospitalisations this morning was discussed by Mr Raab. He said that the last thing he saw was in the lower hundreds. I believe 250 when I last looked.
“But, of course the data are being updated every day.”
He said, “The problem with the speed at which it transmits and if this continues, we will see these numbers rise very dramatically.”
“Then we will know that some of those who have been hospitalized may die, or experience very severe suffering from the Omicron variant.”
On BBC Breakfast, Justice Secretary Michael Gove stated: “I’m aware that we have had one death.” There are nine people with the disease, and the number is still low. The data we have on this subject shifts constantly.
A spokesperson from the UKHSA stated that 10 patients had been admitted with Omicron variants as of yesterday.
“This refers to people diagnosed with Omicron prior or after being admitted to hospital. This 250 number is incorrect.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said that they don’t know from where this number was taken.
Last UKHSA data shows that there were 54,661 Covid cases per day yesterday. There were also 1,576 Omicron cases confirmed. The UK’s total is now 4,713.
In this morning’s third interview Mr Raab confirmed that there had been 10 Omicron hospitalisations when he was quizzed over the confusion on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
He answered the question after being interrupted. Although I get that you rant at politicians every morning, can I still answer your question? It’s fair and challenging.
“First off, I misunderstood one of the questions regarding whether it was Omicron patients being hospitalized or not. The figures are: 1 death, 10 in hospital and the most current daily hospitalizations (for all Covid species) at 900.
Omicron infection has been most commonly confirmed in England (4487) followed by Scotland (186), Wales (30), and Northern Ireland (10).
This is after doctors complained about the insufficient information surrounding the UK’s first Omicron-related death.
Boris Johnson revealed the UK’s first death due to Omicron on a visit to a vaccination clinic in Paddington, west London.
He stated that Omicron was producing hospitalisations, and that at least one of the patients had died from Omicron.
Johnson failed to disclose the individual who died or their age, nor if there were any underlying medical conditions that made them more vulnerable. Johnson also did not mention whether Omicron was the primary or secondary cause.
According to Omicron, this is the first Omicron-related death confirmed in the entire world.
The variant is found in almost all South African cases. However, it’s likely the majority of deaths are caused by the mutation. Unfortunately testing has not been done to confirm this.
The above image shows the current rate of booster programmes (green bars) as well as how they will need to increase to meet the goal of 1 million jabs every day (red bars). NHS chiefs warn that scaling up the program will prove difficult.
Karol Sikora, a professor of medicine and consultant oncologist, said that the government should provide more information about the death in order to ease people’s mind.
“Have they ever had booster?” He asked, “Are they old?”
“There are many nuances to this subject, and we don’t have the right information.”
He said that considering the average age for Covid-related deaths in the UK and the possibility that an individual died as a result of Omicron infection, there wasn’t any reason to panic. The Government should be able to calm concerns rather than exacerbating them.
He said that Covid’s average death age is 82.5, so many 82-year old people will die within a single year.
“No information has been given, but I believe it to be an old boy who tested positive. He may have died from a heart attack or in his sleep, so we don’t know.
It is not necessary to be alarming.
Professor Sikora said his suspicion is that the silence regarding whether the person was vaccinated or not indicated to him that the person died of another cause while they had Omicron.
‘I suspect that it’s a death, which is unfortunate, but is due to something else, and it just happens to be Covid positive that’s why they’re not making a big noise about them being vaccinated or not,’ he said.