Victoria Derbyshire was triple-vaccinated, but her brother Covid caught Covid during a Christmas party with close friends.
BBC’s 53-year-old presenter revealed that 17 members of the 21-strong team – who were all vaccinated – have contracted the virus. She also said that her sister ‘feels rough’, and she is now isolated.
It’shows the speed of transmission with Omicron’, she warned. Later, she added that her goal was to increase awareness of the possibility of this disease.
This warning comes at a time when the mutation strain is rapidly spreading across Britain. One expert warned today that it’s very likely people will meet someone with the variant, unless they’re ‘living the hermit life’.
Ms Derbyshire stated that her brother was triple-jabbed and the third victim was Pfizer three to four weeks ago.
‘He’s just got Covid & feels ‘rough’ & is isolating.
Victoria Derbyshire (pictured), 53-year-old, stated that 17 out of the 21-strong group were infected. Her sibling is ‘feeling rough’ and was isolated.
Ms. Derbyshire said that her tweet (pictured), was meant to increase awareness of the possibility of this disease being transmitted.
Ms Derbyshire claimed that the triple vaccinations had helped to reduce her brother’s symptoms.
“Had a Xmas dinner out with a bunch of mates last Friday – all were vaccinated – 17 of 21 have tested positive.” [sic]
This tweet received many comments from Ms Derbyshire’s more than 150,000 followers.
One said that if he felt rough after three jabs, then he should be glad he got them. Otherwise, he might be considering hospitalisation. Ms Derbyshire responded: “Yes, he is.”
One of his doctors agreed with the fact that the triple jab would likely reduce his symptoms. She added, “Yep. He’s not going to be in a hospital. But it shows how fast Omicron can transmit.
The variant is causing cases to double every three days in Britain. Health officials are encouraging people to test and to socially disengage to reduce the risk of a Christmas spike.
Omicron could be responsible for 8.5% of all infections according to data from the UK Health Security Agency. These figures were calculated based upon the percentage of PCR tests that failed to identify a particular gene. This is an indicator of the variant. Three genes are required to confirm Covid infections. But Omicron has only two.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, the map above shows the top ten locations with Omicron-related cases. West Northamptonshire has been identified as the hotspot of this strain. However, London is home to eight out of ten.
Eleanor Riley is a professor in immunology infectious disease. She said that Omicron has spread so quickly that it’s’very probable’ that someone will be infected by the Covid-19 variant.
A University of Edinburgh professor warned that ‘a lot of people could still end up at the hospital’ even though the coronavirus mutation causes milder symptoms than those caused by the Delta variant.
Professor Riley said on BBC Radio 4’s Today that Omicron was spreading quickly and that unless one lives a life like a hermit it is very unlikely they will find them in the coming weeks.
“I do not believe anyone should go around believing they won’t catch it. I think the situation has changed.”
She also said that there is an enormous ‘if’ in this. ‘Is it more mild?’. It is dangerous to try to compare South African data to that of the UK, I believe.
“Even if the virus is less severe and has a lower incidence of hospitalizations, it’s still a significant number of people who are infected.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, (UKHSA), the highly transmissible mutant strain will likely make up the majority of Covid cases in Britain in the coming weeks. It could even reach 1 million infections by the end this month.
This comes after Sajid Javid (health secretary) leaked advice from body calling for “stringent national steps” to be taken by December 18.
In a document marked ‘official, sensitive’, sent from UKHSA to Mr Javid, seen by the Guardian, the body warns: ‘The key point is that under a range of plausible scenarios, stringent action is needed on or before 18 December 2021 if doubling times stay at 2.5 days.
“Even if the doubled times increase to approximately 5 days in December, strict action will likely still be needed.”
“The report adds that Omicron’s rapid spread means that actions to curb pressures on health might need to be taken sooner than intuition would suggest.