PM Johnson says hospitals face ‘considerable pressure’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face covering to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, reacts during his visit to a Covid-19 vaccination hub in the Guttman Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, north west of London, yesterday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said that the UK’s state-run hospitals will face “considerable pressure” in the coming weeks due to the steep rise in virus infections. Speaking during a visit to a vaccine centre, Johnson said, “the pressure on our NHS hospitals is going to be considerable in the course of the next couple of weeks and maybe more” as “Omicron continues to surge through the country”.The UK saw record numbers of cases in the last days of 2021 though it has not released figures for the whole country this year. The country is one of Europe’s worst affected with a death toll of nearly 149,000. The prime minister said that he was aware of high levels of hospital staff absences due to Covid, adding: “we’re looking at what we can do to move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected”.Around 50,000 NHS staff were absent from work Friday because they were ill or self-isolating due to Covid-19, The Sunday Times newspaper reported. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals in England, told Sky News that “the pressure on hospitals outside London is now growing” after the capital bore the brunt of virus cases earlier.Johnson urged the public to get a booster vaccination, saying there are slots available for 2mn people this week. So far almost 34mn people have received the booster jab. The prime minister defended his decision not to increase virus restrictions over the festive period in England, unlike in other UK regions where nightclubs have closed and there are limits on social gatherings. “Of course we keep all measures under review, but the mixture of things we’re doing at the moment is, I think, the right one”, the prime minister said.The Omicron variant “does seem pretty conclusively to be less severe than Delta or Alpha,” Johnson said. “It is putting fewer people into ICU (intensive care units).” The number of people in hospital with Covid in England was reported on Sunday as the highest since February at more than 13,000, with 769 of those on ventilators.Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said late Saturday the government would recommend secondary school students wear face coverings in classrooms and teaching spaces when they return next week as a “temporary” measure. Johnson reiterated that “we won’t keep them (masks) on a day more than is necessary”.New measures are not needed now in Britain to fight the Omicron variant, which is “plainly milder” than earlier forms of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday. “The way forward for the country as a whole is to continue with the path that we are on,” he told broadcasters. “Of course we will keep all measures under review, but the mixture of things that we are doing at the moment is I think the right one.”Despite a huge surge in infections, Johnson has so far mainly resisted imposing new restrictions in England, which accounts for more than 80% of the UK population. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which control their own rules, have imposed some new measures. Johnson said pressure on hospitals would be “considerable” in the next couple of weeks, but Omicron was “plainly milder” than previous variants, and the country was in a stronger position than it was earlier in the pandemic.Britain had a “very, very high level” of vaccination, he said, and it was continuing to build up its defences with the booster programme. “The majority of people who are in ICU (intensive care) have not been vaccinated and the vast majority - about 90% - have not been boosted,” he said during a visit to a vaccination centre in Buckinghamshire, south east England. Johnson imposed limited measures in England, known as “Plan B”, last month, including the wearing of face coverings on public transport and in shops, but stopped short of ordering restrictions on gatherings or closing businesses.The government said on Sunday that older schoolchildren in England would be required to wear face coverings when they return after the Christmas break.