Boris Johnson last night urged everyone to make getting jabbed a New Year resolution to help keep the nation free from lockdown.
He spoke out as the number of people in hospital in England with Covid rose to 11,452 yesterday – up 61 per cent from a week earlier and the highest number since February 26.
On Tuesday there were 2 082 Covid hospital admissions, which was up 90% week-on-week. This is the highest daily number since February 3rd NHS England statistics show.
Boris Johnson insisted last night that everyone make the resolution of getting jabbed a New Year’s Resolution to ensure freedom for all citizens.
The UK registered a further 189,213 Covid infections yesterday – another record – as many Britons heed the warning and seek a jab
One in three Covid patients are admitted to hospital because they have a different reason than the virus. However, this number is likely to grow.
The UK registered a further 189,213 Covid infections yesterday – another record. The 332 deaths were the highest since March 2nd, but this also included an unreported backlog of deaths at hospitals in England that occurred between December 24-29.
But in an upbeat New Year message, the Prime Minister insisted the situation is ‘better than last year’. He said: ‘Whatever the challenges that fate continues to throw in our way and whatever the anxieties we may have about the weeks and months ahead, particularly about Omicron and the growing numbers in hospitals, we can say one thing with certainty – our position this December 31 is incomparably better than last year.’
Mr Johnson hailed the success of the UK’s booster programme while claiming to have met his target of offering top-up doses to every adult in England. Johnson used his address as a warning for those who still haven’t had their jabs.
In a video message that will be posted online this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘I want to speak directly to all those who have yet to get fully vaccinated. The people who think the disease can’t hurt them. Look at the people going into hospital now – that could be you.
‘Look at the intensive care units and the miserable, needless suffering of those who did not get their booster – that could be you.
‘So, make it your New Year’s resolution. Get that jab and do something that will make 2022 a happy New Year for us all.’
Mr Johnson also said he has fulfilled his pledge to offer every adult in England the chance to book a booster by the end of the year – over eight million have been given since the target was announced on December 12, taking the total in England to 28.1million.
It is believed that around 9 million people are eligible for the booster, but they are not yet able to use it. Yesterday, Professor Martin Marshall of the Royal College of GPs warned that the rollout could be halted over Christmas. ‘The vaccination programme is going OK but it’s been pretty slow over the Christmas period, particularly in the GP centres,’ he told Times Radio. ‘I suspect that will pick up again come January but it’s been a little bit frustrating for the staff.’
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer used his own New Year message to promise to set out a plan to ‘build a new Britain’. The Labour leader, who will begin 2022 with his party ahead in recent opinion polls, said: ‘I believe the best still lies ahead for Britain. If we all make the right decisions, we can make Britain’s future a success.
‘That must be the true legacy of all the sacrifices and pain of the past two years of the pandemic.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used his message to say he hoped 2022 will be ‘the year we will finally beat Covid’.