LONDON (AP) – British hospitals across the country are facing a dangerous situation in January, medical workers warned on Friday amid rising coronavirus infections blamed on a new virus variant. Authorities insisted on reactivating field hospitals that had previously baled in the car to treat the patients with new patients.
Concerns are growing about the ability of the already protracted National Health Service to handle the expected increase in people seeking treatment for COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks, which could be further fueled by holiday gatherings during Christmas and New Year.
On Friday, the UK recorded another 53,285 new infections, slightly lower than the previous day’s record high of 55,892. Although comparisons with the onset of the pandemic are difficult as the test was limited in the spring, the UK recently four days recorded its four highest daily new infection numbers – all above 50,000 and about double the daily number of a few weeks ago. .
Mike Adams, director of England, at the Royal College of Nursing, told Sky News that the UK was in the “eye of the storm” and that it was “furious” to see people not following social guidelines or masks do not wear.
A leading doctor also warned of burnout among health workers on the front line in hospitals, while also urging people to follow the rules.
“I’m worried,” Adrian Boyle, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the BBC. “We’re at a lot of fighting stations.”
The increase in new cases is believed to be due to a new, more contagious variant of the virus first identified in London and the south-east of England.
Given the time between new cases, hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths, there is great concern about the path of the pandemic over the next month or two. Britain already has the second highest virus death rate in Europe at 74,125, after another 613 deaths were recorded on Friday. The country wants to overtake Italy and become the worst-hit country in Europe again.
Due to the increase in new infections, which caused the stricter restrictions of the closure, British authorities changed their strategy for the introduction of coronavirus vaccines, choosing to get more people an initial jab as soon as possible and the postpone second shot to three months.
In a joint statement, chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the first dose of vaccine provided significant protection.
Currently, two vaccines are approved for use in the UK and require both two doses per person.
About 1 million people received the first dose of the vaccine developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German biotechnology company BioNTech, with a small minority receiving the second dose after 21 days.
Earlier this week, Britain also approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca it is significantly cheaper and easier to use.
Authorities have outlined the new dosing regimen, which delays a person’s second vaccine shot by three weeks, up to 12 weeks after the first shot.
‘In the short term, the additional increase in vaccine efficacy from the second dose is likely to be modest. The vast majority of the initial protection against clinical diseases is after the first dose of vaccination, ‘said the medical officers.
The new plan nevertheless received criticism. The UK Medical Association has warned that the delay in the second dose is causing major scheduling problems for thousands of elderly and vulnerable people who have been partially vaccinated.
“It is extremely unfair to tens of thousands of our patients at greatest risk to now try to reschedule their appointments,” said Richard Vautrey of the British Medical Association.
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