‘Omicron’ could spread in England faster than in South Africa: Health and Medical Experts
New Delhi: A senior scientific advisor in the UK warned the world over the new variant of covid-19 ‘Omicron’, he said: “new variant of covid-19 ‘Omicron’ may spread faster in the United Kingdom than South Africa.” South Africa reported nearly 20,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a record since the Omicron variant was detected.
The UK Health Security Agency identified a further 249 Omicron cases on Thursday, almost twice the number announced the day before, bringing the UK total to 817.
Professor John Edmunds – a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said “Plan B measures announced by the prime minister were absolutely not an overreaction, even if Omicron turned out to be milder than the current dominant variant.”
John Edmunds is an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also, and he predicted that if the UK had 1,000 cases today, then a doubling time of two to three days would drive the number up to 8,000 in a week and 64,000 in two weeks. Those would come on top of the continuing wave of Delta infections.
Speaking at the online event, Edmunds dismissed suggestions that the Omicron variant might be “good news” if it hospitalized people at only half the rate as the Delta variant. The hope comes largely from hospital admissions in South Africa, where the population is far younger than in the UK and so less likely to experience severe Covid illness in the first place. While the average age in the UK is just over 40, it is less than 28 in South Africa.
(_Vinayak Barot)
