London has been the UK’s recent Omicron hotspot. In the build up to, and during Christmas, cases were rising exponentially. Hospitalisations were shooting up too and more pressure was being put on the NHS. This resulted in the government considering restrictions to ease the pressure on the health system.
Now, in a bit of festive good news, it seems there is some optimism to be seen in the data.
According to data from the NHS, only 1.4 percent of people being infected with Omicron are finding themselves in hospital a week later.
This is a much lower rate than under the Alpha or Delta variants.
This comes amidst Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, saying that Omicron infections “do not seem to be doubling every two days anymore.”.
Furthermore, there is more optimistic news in the data.
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This is with regard to why people are going into hospital.
Whilst admissions have risen by 50 percent, 44 percent of this has been down to people arriving not because of Covid, but because they also have Covid.
Covid, in short, is not becoming the main reason people are becoming hospitalised.
This is down to a number of factors.
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The first is the vaccine.
The vaccine is the medicinal tool the UK has against COVID-19.
Over the course of 2021 the UK has had a successful vaccine rollout.
Most of the population are now single or double jabbed and millions have taken up the offer of the booster vaccine since the programme was expanded this month.
This does not mean that COVID isn’t still a threat.
Rising case rates and the rising numbers of people in intensive care, mainly those who unvaccinated, mean that the NHS is still under immense pressure.
Not only, is it trying to treat a high number of COVID patients, it is also trying to carry out non-COVID care too.
As a result, the UK could still find itself with more restrictions as it enters the cold winter months of 2022.