Official figures reveal that Britain’s Covid crisis has shrunk today on all fronts, despite the discovery of eight Omicron variants in England. This led to No10 announcing a massive new booster drive.
Department of Health bosses posted 39,716 new positive tests over the last 24 hours, down 6.5 per cent on last Tuesday’s figure of 42,484.
It was the fourth straight day that cases fell despite UK Health Security Agency’s announcement it sequenced supermutant strains at Haringey in London and Haringey of Liverpool, North Norfolk, and Sutton.
The number of people dying with the virus also fell 3.6 per cent to 159 today, down from 165 recorded last week.
And hospitalisations dropped to 718 on Friday, the latest date that data is available for. The fourteenth consecutive week of falls in admissions was marked by a drop in the number at 6.1%.
The figures come as Boris Johnson pledged to deliver third doses to all adults by the end of January to shield the nation against the new variant.
The Prime Minister announced he is drafting in the Army again to help deliver the programme and will offer GPs an extra £15 for every injection as he promised to deliver another ‘great British vaccination effort’.
A £5 bonus will be given to GPs per shot if they do them on Sundays and they will get a £30 premium for shots delivered to the most vulnerable who are unable to leave their homes. To help the mammoth drive, 10,000 additional paid vaccine volunteers are being recruited.
However, it could mean less face to face appointments with GPs for non-Covid patient. These are currently running at around a fifth of their pre-pandemic levels.
Here are some other developments in coronavirus today
- After health professionals suggested that people should limit their socializing over Christmas, Mr Johnson & Mr Javid sought to dispel any fears of hospitality.
- The Prime Minister said he does not agree with Dr Jenny Harries, who urged people not to socialise if they do not need to in the run-up to Christmas, and was asked if Christmas parties should be cancelled;
- Because Omicron’s case numbers are low, he said that a repeat of this ‘pingdemic” is unlikely to occur.
- Johnson claimed that Johnson believed it “extremely unlikely”, that another lockdown was required. However, he did not rule out the possibility.
- The Prime Minister stated that the government does not wish people to cancel Christmas parties, nativity plays or other festive events.
- Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, stated that she wanted to increase the capacity for hospitals and GPs to give more booster jabs.
- Ms Pritchard stated that they are looking into ‘how we can reduce other burdens for GPs to administrate boosters’.
Scientists have cautioned that the boosters will probably not give the same level of protection against Omicron as they do against Delta because the new strain is so evolved.
However, No10 believes that the increase in immunity will provide some protection from the variant.
Moderna warned today that a ‘material drop’ in the effectiveness of existing vaccines, particularly against infection.
Pfizer said that it expects current vaccines will provide excellent protection against death and hospitalisation. Omicron-specific booster shot are being developed by both companies and will be made available in the middle of 2022.
Mr Johnson told the Downing Street briefing that new vaccination centres will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’ to get boosters in arms over the coming months, following reports that dozens of elderly and vulnerable around the country were struggling to get their jabs before the booster drive was expanded.
He stated that ‘proportional’ regulations, including mandatory face masks for public transport as well as in shops, nail salons, and hairdressers were brought in in order to purchase time so scientists could ‘crack Omicron codes’. These restrictions would no longer be necessary.
There are questions about how the booster drive can handle the increased demand. The backlog was more than 7,000,000 people before the expansion of the programme.
Only 18 million of the estimated 25million Britons aged 40 and over were eligible for the one-year grant.
As long as the third dose of their last dose has not expired, this new guidance will allow 53million eligible people to apply.
6.9 million people aged 40 and over were automatically made eligible by the new guidelines. Today, there are 40 million eligible people.
Johnson stated this at a Downing Street Press Conference. This virus has been defeated before.
Boris Johnson called today on all Britons 18 years and older to get their booster before the end January, as this is the best defense against the Omicron supermutant Covid variant.
Moderna and Pfizer have been working together on Covid vaccines for Omicron, which could be used to treat the problem. But they will not be available until around mid-2022.
Botswana has approximately 50 variants. More than 30 mutations are on spike protein. The body can recognize the older version of the virus’ spike protein with the latest vaccines. The mutations could make spike proteins look different, which may cause the immune system to struggle to recognize it and attack it. Three of its spike mutations, H665Y and N679K (P681H), allow it to enter cells faster. Experts believe it could be more contagious because it lacks a membrane protein (NSP6), as was the case in previous iterations. It also has two mutations, R203K (or G204R), that were present in every variant of the virus and have been associated with infectiousness.
Chair of South African Medical Association, Dr Angelique Coetzee said that patients with Omicron were experiencing milder and more subtle symptoms. These included tiredness, headaches, and muscle aches. However, none of them reported symptoms such as a loss in smell or taste, breathing problems or other signs.
However, problems with the booster rollout have plagued it since September launch. This has led to concerns that it cannot handle the increase in capacity.
Doctors claim they’re too busy dealing with non-Covid care record backlogs that developed during the pandemic. And figures reveal there’s a third less mass vaccination hubs giving boosters out now than the initial rollout.
Patients who are vulnerable have reported that they had to wait for weeks before getting a booster appointment. This is because many are administered at local pharmacies, which are limited in staffing and operate during restricted hours.
Mr Johnson spoke out amid grave concerns in the NHS about his 500,000 jabs a day target to outpace Omicron — as ministers lined up GPs to do the work but doctors claimed they are ‘burnt out’ and warned more face-to-face appointments with patients will have to go if they are expected to help.
Today the Health Service Journal reported that from December 1, doctors will receive £15 for each jab given from Monday to Saturday – up from £12.58. This will reach £20 for Sunday and Bank Holiday vaccinations until the end of January. Also, the pay for jabs at care homes or houses will rise.
One NHS chief executive said getting GPs to lead the surge was ‘a very big ask, on top of many other very big asks’, adding it would be extremely difficult to reach the 3.5million rate due to a lack of medics, volunteers and facilities after a third of vaccination centres closed this summer.
A GP practice manager tweeted: ‘Cash won’t make much difference, it’s the workload & workforce that’s the problem. This is not about the people who call patients and organise rotas. It’s also the people in the back room that track calls, make phone calls, organize logistics and sort out paperwork.
The soldiers will be also called back. Some soldiers are helping to deliver the vaccine in Scotland, but none in England. Prior to being sworn in in July, some of them were responsible for administering the vaccines.
This winter, thousands more of retired nurses and doctors who have helped in the last 12 months and volunteers will be required.
Johnson stated at the Downing Street press event that he had already conducted almost 18 million boosters throughout the UK and that he still has millions to go to safeguard the most vulnerable.
“We’ll then rapidly move down the cohorts. We want to work together with the devolved authorities to boost capacity across the entire United Kingdom up to the level we reached in the last vaccine effort.
“We will be doing everything to make sure that every person eligible receives that booster in less than two months.