BRITAIN AT ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ COVID LEVELS AMID CLAMOUR FOR PLAN B
▶ Health minister denies refusal to enact stricter measures is related to Cop26 climate summit
A senior British scientist has said the UK has reached an “unacceptable” level of coronavirus cases as pressure from medical experts for tougher measures increases.
The government continued to rule out moves for Plan B social restrictions.
Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, condemned what he called the British government’s “mixed messaging”.
Measures such as mask wearing and working from home would “lead to a pretty good reduction” in the number of infections, he said.
“What we’re facing at the moment is unacceptable. We’ve got roughly one in 55 people infected, which is an astonishingly high rate compared to most other west European countries,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I don’t think it’s a binary ‘go for Plan B or nothing’. It’s very clear that the measures that are included in Plan B are sensible and not very disruptive.
“It’s not problematic to give clear leadership about the use of face masks, and working at home – if you can – is also not particularly disruptive for many people.
“Those measures are likely to lead to a pretty good reduction in the really unacceptable number of cases that we’ve got at the moment.”
Yesterday, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said new measures to control the spread of coronavirus would be “kept under review” but he did not think Britain had “reached the point where [they needed] to be activated”.
He said whether the government introduced “Plan A or Plan B has got nothing to do with Cop26”, after suggestions the UK government was holding off on bringing in restrictions because of the imminent climate conference in Glasgow.
“It’s got everything to do with getting the very best clinical advice from our world-leading scientists,” he said.
Mr Javid last week said new cases could reach 100,000 a day but the government insisted there was still spare capacity in the National Health Service and that Plan B would be activated only if it came under “significant pressure”.
“The purpose of setting up a clear plan, not just with respect to Covid but with other winter challenges, was to make clear how we make these decisions,” he said.
Mr Javid accepted the wider health system was under “huge pressure” as he outlined plans to invest £6 billion ($8.25bn) to help clear the NHS waiting list backlog of about 5.7 million patients.
“I’m not going to pretend that we’re not under huge pressure,” he said.
“There is a lot of pressure in the system and that is something we work on, on a daily basis, with our friends in the NHS to see what we can be doing.”
In a separate interview with Sky News, Mr Javid said he believed “we’ll have a normal Christmas” and urged people to come forward and get their vaccine and booster shots.
He said he was “leaning towards” announcing a mandatory vaccination order for NHS workers.
UK health authorities recorded 36,567 new cases and 38 deaths yesterday.
In the past seven days 315,698 cases have been recorded, an increase of 2.2 per cent on the previous week.
Last Thursday, new cases passed the 50,000 mark in what was Britain’s highest daily infection tally since mid-July.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has resisted pleas from health leaders for tighter restrictions despite the rising number of cases, said vaccines would get the country through the winter and out of the pandemic.
The government has launched a media blitz, encouraging people to get booster shots, and is urging those not yet vaccinated to book an appointment soon.
“Yesterday was the biggest day yet for Covid booster jabs: more than 325,000 people getting vital protection,” Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said on Twitter on Sunday.
“In the past three days over 800,000 people have had their booster jab.”
Jeremy Brown, professor of respiratory medicine at University College London Hospitals, said it was not essential to reduce the interval for booster shots from six to five months.
Asked whether the interval should be reduced, Prof Brown told Sky News: “No, I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary at the moment.
“We’re trying to make sure the booster occurs at a time when the vaccine efficacy has waned to a certain degree – not much, but enough to warrant a booster – and also to ensure that we have a long-term protection that persists for as long as possible, and the gap makes a difference.”
He said about eight million people were eligible for boosters but only five million of them have had their shot.
If the interval was reduced this may mean an “extra three million people who need the booster – the most vulnerable – will get their booster delayed rather than actually having it on time”.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency had contacted local authorities to gauge their support for the “immediate rollout of the winter plan – Plan B”, The Observer reported.
“We don’t comment on leaks. It is part of UKHSA’s role to provide advice to the government on the continuing response to the pandemic,” a spokeswoman for the agency said.