The United Kingdom is confirmed as one of the countries most affected by Omicron: in the last 24 hours, 10,059 cases attributable to the variant have been reported, compared to 3,201 recorded yesterday, bringing the total of the new Covid mutation to 24,968.
Too many in short, and experts are suggesting Boris Johnson to run for cover with a lockdown two weeks after Christmas. Although WHO believes "more data is needed to understand the severity profile" of the variant and whether current vaccines are effective, at the same time, it warns, hospitals in some countries could be "overwhelmed" in this situation. short.
The WHO specifically mentioned the United Kingdom, with over 90 thousand new infections from Covid for the third consecutive day, led precisely by Omicron. Here, 3 thousand hospitalizations are risked a day.
According to the Financial Times, there is already a plan on Boris Johnson's desk that provides for a two-week national confinement, to be started after December 25: the so-called plan C, to be adopted to the extent that plan A (vaccines for all) and plan B (first restrictions) did not prove to be sufficient.
HOLLAND - In the Netherlands, the decision to reintroduce the lockdown has already been taken by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and will start tomorrow.
The lockdown is "inevitable due to the fifth wave that is approaching due to Omicron", he stressed, explaining that the Covid variant is "spreading faster than we feared". And intervention is necessary "to prevent the worst". "I'm here tonight in a dark mood. To sum it up in one sentence, the Netherlands will be back in lockdown from tomorrow," Rutte said at a televised press conference.
Non-essential shops, bars, restaurants and other public places will close, at least until January 14, as will schools. Next to Rutte was the chief epidemiologist Van Dissel, according to whom Omicron will become dominant in the Netherlands between Christmas and New Year. A semi-lockdown regime was started in the Netherlands on 28 November, with all non-essential stores closed from 5 to 5 in the morning.
(Unioneonline / D)