British PM: Health service under strain, but no new measures

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is suggesting there will be no tightening of measures to slow the current surge in coronavirus infections, in spite of the country’s healthcare system remaining under strain for weeks

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday that the country's health system will remain under strain for weeks amid the current surge in coronavirus infections, but suggested there would be no tightening of measures soon to slow the spread.

The highly transmissible omicron variant has sent Britain’s daily new caseload soaring over Christmas and the New Year, with 137,583 infections and 73 deaths reported for England and Wales only on Sunday, with numbers for Scotland and Northern Ireland to be announced after the holiday weekend.

“I think we’ve got to recognize that the pressure on our NHS, on our hospitals, is going to be considerable in the course the next couple of weeks, and maybe more,” Johnson said during a visit to a vaccination center in Aylesbury, 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of London.

Johnson was speaking after The Sunday Times newspaper reported that a group of hospitals in the eastern county of Lincolnshire had declared a “critical incident” due to “extreme and unprecedented” staff shortages.