With Omicron covid variant cases surging rapidly, the United Kingdom has declared an 'emergency' and decided to start the process of providing booster dose for everyone above the age of 18 from this week, the BBC reported. The UK Prime Minister has also said that the scientists are yet to confirm whether the Omicron variant has caused less or severe symptoms compared to the Delta variant. Johnson made these remarks on the day when the United Kingdom raised its coronavirus alert level to four, the second-highest level.
Key Points :
1. “I’m afraid we’re now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant Omicron. No one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming,” the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on television on Sunday evening.
Also Read | Tornadoes wreak havoc in more than 6 US states, kills over 80
2. The UK Prime Minister also said that it is clear that only two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection that is needed. He also emphasized that it is good news that scientists of the UK are confident that with a third dose, a booster shot. "We can all bring our level of protection back up,” he added.
3. Boris Johnson also said that so far the severity of the new covid variant is not confirmed but it is already known that Omicron is much more transmissible. He further said a wave of Omicron amid the citizens who have not received the booster shots would risk a higher level of hospitalisation and it would overwhelm the NHS (National Health Service — UK’s public healthcare system), leading to more fatalities.
4. “People who received the second dose five or six months ago do not have any neutralisation ability against Omicron. However, they do have some (neutralisation ability) against the Delta (variant),” Gili Regev-Yochay, the director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Also Read | President Putin reveals driving taxi to cope with low income after Soviet fall
5. The Omicron case count in India has increased to 38 with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh reporting their first Omicron variant case. Britain has also reported its very first death caused due to the new variant. Mainland China has also detected its first Omicron case, state-run news agency Tianjin Daily reported.
