Boris Johnson says UK faces 'race against time' as Chris Whitty warns Covid records will be broken

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the nation faces a "race against time to get jabs in arms and save lives" after the highest number of daily Covid cases were recorded since the start of the pandemic.
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Mr Johnson said it is “absolutely vital” that everyone gets a booster jab to tackle the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus. It came after the country recorded its highest-ever number of confirmed Covid cases of 78,810 and England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned that figure will be beaten repeatedly in the coming weeks.

Speaking at a press conference from Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: “The wave on Omicron continues to roll in across the whole of the United Kingdom.”

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He warned that in some areas the doubling rate was now under two days.

Boris Johnson at the Downing Street press conference.Boris Johnson at the Downing Street press conference.
Boris Johnson at the Downing Street press conference.

Mr Johnson said: “I’m afraid we’re also seeing the inevitable increase in hospitalisations up by 10% nationally, week on week, and up by almost a third in London.”

He said there were also “signs of hopes” and a “great national fightback has begun”.

He added: “People have responded with an amazing spirit of duty and obligation to others and I want to say that each and every one of you who rolls up your sleeve to get jabbed is helping this national effort.”

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England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the country is dealing with two epidemics and records will continue to be broken in the coming weeks.

He said: "I’m afraid we have to be realistic that records will be broken a lot over the next few weeks as the rates continue to go up.”

Professor Whitty said Delta appears to be still flat while Omicron is growing.

He said: “What we’ve got is two epidemics on top of one another – an existing Delta epidemic, roughly flat, and a very rapidly-growing Omicron epidemic on top of it.”

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Professor Whitty said there should be “really serious caution” over reports that a reduction in hospitalisations was being seen in cases of Omicron in South Africa.

He said: “The first caution on this is simply a numerical one – if the rate of hospitalisation were to halve but you’re doubling every two days, in two days you’re back to where you were before you actually had the hospitalisation.

“If the peak of this is twice as great, then halving of the size of the hospitalisation rate, you still end up in the same place. And this peak is going very fast.”

He added: “The second point I wanted to make, which I’m not sure it’s fully been absorbed by everybody, is that the amount of immunity in South Africa for this wave – because of a prior Delta wave and vaccination – is far higher than it was for their last wave. And therefore the fact that there is a lower hospitalisation rate is unsurprising.”

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He said: “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t some degree of slightly milder disease, that is possible. But I just think there’s a danger people have over-interpreted this to say, this is not a problem and what are we worrying about?

“I want to be clear, I’m afraid this is going to be a problem. Exact proportions of it, of course, South African scientists and UK scientists and scientists globally are trying to determine at the moment.”

Mr Johnson said he believed the Government's Plan B measures were the "right approach" and they did not need to go further at this stage.

Professor Whitty said it is sensible to prioritise the social interactions that matter, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

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He said: “I think that what most people are doing is, and I would think this seems very sensible, is prioritising the social interactions that really matter to them and, to protect those ones, de-prioritising ones that matter much less to them.

“I think that’s going to become increasingly important as we, for example, go into the Christmas period.”

He said he would “strongly encourage” people to take tests before visiting vulnerable people and to meet in areas of good ventilation or outdoors if possible.

Professor Whitty said that “all the things that we do know (about Omicron) are bad”.

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He said: “This is a really serious threat at the moment. How big a threat? There are several things we don’t know. But all the things that we do know are bad and the principal one being the speed at which this is moving, it is moving at an absolutely phenomenal pace.

“Therefore between the time that it first starts to really take off in a way people will be able to see and the point when we get to very, very, very large numbers will be quite a short one, and that, I think, is part of the issue in trying to deal with this.”

He warned: “I am afraid there will be an increasing number of Omicron patients going into the NHS, going into hospital, going into intensive cares, and exact ratios we don’t yet know but there will be substantial numbers.

“That will begin to become apparent, in my view, fairly soon after Christmas.

“It’ll start before then but in terms of the big numbers, I think that’s a reasonably, I’m afraid, a reasonably nailed-on prospect.”

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