LONDON: Britain said on Monday that the Omicron variant of Coronavirus spreads on “phenomenal levels” and accounts for around 40% of all infections in London so that people have to get additional doses of vaccines because people are punctured vulnerable.
Since the first case of the Omicron variant was detected on November 27 in England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had imposed a harder restriction and told the nation on Sunday that “tidal waves” about Omicron would regard.
The United Kingdom said that unless the action was taken, there may be millions of people infected by Omicron, which scientists said can still infect double vaccinated people, at the end of the month.
“What we now know about Omicron is …
it spreads at the phenomenal level, something we have never seen before, it doubles every two to three days in infection,” said Health Secretary Javid Sky News.
“That means we face a wave of tide infections, we are once again in the race between vaccines and viruses.” The pound fell 0.4% to $ 1.3225, while it was widely steady against the euro at 85.29 pence.
Johnson, who wrestled with a rebellion in his party for the steps to curb the spread of Omicron and protest over alleged street parties during last year’s locking party, said people had to rush to get a booster vaccine to protect “our freedom and our way of life”.
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Novel Coronavirus, who was first detected in China at the end of 2019, has killed 5.3 million people, removing trillions of dollars in economic output and changing the normal life upside down for people around the world.
Data released on Friday showed that the efficacy of vaccines against symptomatic infections substantially reduced against omicrons with only two doses, but the third dose increased protection of up to more than 70%.
Although Javid said no death had not been confirmed in England and only 10 people were hospitalized in the UK with a variant, he said Omicron might be behind about 40% of infections in London.
He said that while the symptoms of variants may be lighter, the rapid spread means that unless the government acts, health services can be overwhelmed.
“Even when a light virus, a small number of people from a very large amount can still be the same as the high number of hospitalizations,” Javid said.
“Two doses are not enough, but three doses still provide excellent protection against symptomatic infections,” he said.
England said Omicron contributed 40% of London infection
