Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Virus hospital cases set for 18-month high
Health chief’s warning of new spike
HOSPITAL cases of coronavirus could soar to an 18-month peak as the latest Covid-19 wave sweeps Britain, a top health boss warned yesterday.
Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, urged people to prepare for a new spike as two Omicron variants grip the country.
A total of 2.3 million people in private households are estimated to have had the virus last week, up 32% from a week earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This is the highest since late April, but some way below the record 4.9 million at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave three months ago.
Dame Jenny feared it was “quite likely” hospitalisations will rise higher this summer than during the last wave, when numbers spiked at just over 20,000 at the start of April.
At the time, that was the highest number of Covid patients in UK hospitals since February 2021 – with admissions peaking at more than 2,500 a day.
They included people who sought treatment for other reasons but tested positive for Covid.
Dame Jenny said: “The majority of cases in the UK now are BA.4 and BA.5 and it is BA.5 which is really driving this current wave.
“It doesn’t look as though that wave has finished yet, so we would anticipate that hospital cases will rise.”
A coronavirus surge could also clobber the economy, with absent workers leaving businesses shortstaffed – just as industries such as
It doesn’t look as though the Omicron BA.5 wave has finished DAME JENNY HARRIES ON WORRYING COVID SPIKE
travel are struggling to cope with delays and cancellations.
Dame Jenny, above, said people should take precautions by handwashing, social distancing and wearing face coverings in poorly-ventilated places where possible.
She said a spike may hamper the NHS’S ability to treat other illnesses.
Latest figures show 93.2% of people aged 12 and over in the UK have had a first vaccination, with 87.2% having a second dose and 69.4% having a third or booster.
Since the pandemic began, 197,288 deaths in the UK have been attributed to Covid-19.
Dame Jenny appealed to the “nearly 20%” of the over-75 age group who have not had spring booster jabs to get vaccinated.
NHS Providers boss Saffron Cordery added: “The policy of living with Covid does not mean Covid has gone away.”