by Zohra Rangwala
As the UK encourages the public to get vaccinated and boosted, a new wave of COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the country and poses more of a threat each day.
Vaccines and boosters are protective against severe illness but the transmission rate of the virus is still alarming and has put pressure on the government to “cancel Christmas” once again, as they did in 2020 when there were around 27,000 covid cases.
More than 100,000 new cases of the coronavirus have been detected in the UK on Wednesday, the first time since the pandemic started, with London being one of the highest holders of the infected population. However, despite record-high case numbers, hospitalizations have remained stagnant and weekly deaths are down by 2.7%, thanks to mass vaccination drives.
Nevertheless, the Omicron variant has increased transmission rates, and warnings of an estimated 3,000 hospitalizations a day could be possible in this climate. These numbers have consequently led many to urge the government to move on from “Plan B” into a new protective and preventive stage to battle the new variant.
Plan B requires vaccination passes for certain events, face masks in certain places, and encourages working from home. Despite this, the number of people being infected is expected to rise to 600,000 to 2 million per day if further measures are not enforced, which could overwhelm the NHS.
To reduce the peaks and surges of Omicron, it has been discussed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his cabinet that new measures are likely to be put in place after Christmas. These could be similar to those of a national lockdown. Measures such as reducing group sizes, increasing physical distancing, reducing the duration of contact, and closing high-risk premises such as schools are likely to be put in place in hopes to reduce the mass spread of the virus.
This could result in a 2-week circuit breaker lockdown after Christmas in the UK, posing as a fourth national lockdown. However, it is considered an extreme measure due to the vast economic and political toll it could take on the UK. The UK public now awaits further instructions from the government concerning preventive measures against the Omicron variant.
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