04-11-2021, 08:12 PM
November 4, 2021
3:10 PM +08
Last Updated 5 hours ago
By Alistair Smout and Andrew Macaskill
......
Johnson outpaced many governments by lifting England's pandemic restrictions in one broad stroke in July, betting the National Health Service will be able to take the strain after a successful vaccination campaign. Some health frontliners, virologists and pandemic modellers aren't confident.
Even though COVID-19 hospitalisations are far lower than a year ago, the experts say pressures will be compounded by other winter viruses previously halted by lockdowns, as well as vaccine immunity fading and a backlog of treatment for other conditions.
......
While Britain's new cases have persisted above 30,000 a day since early September, vaccines have driven deaths from COVID-19 down by about 90% compared to January levels.
......
Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, predicted that the state-funded NHS would "get overwhelmed again".
......
Italian premier Mario Draghi said last month that he believed Britain had erred by opening up on July 19, a lesson that the world could not exit the crisis "in an instant".
"The United Kingdom, which was one of the countries that carried out the vaccination campaign with great speed, abandoning all caution, is now faced with about 50,000 daily infections and 200 deaths yesterday," he told lawmakers.
......
staff are overworked, stressed and exhausted trying to keep pace with an influx of patients at St Thomas' Hospital in London, where the prime minister said frontline workers saved his life last April.
"I absolutely detest walking towards the hospital when I go to work," Carr said. "I have checked in and really don't know how to get out."
......
the cumulative pressures are already straining the system, even though the 1,000 new COVID-19 admissions each day are lower than the 1,500 seen a year ago and 4,000 in January. And winter is yet to come.
Hospital accident and emergency departments treated 1.39 million patients in September, the highest number for any month on record. About a quarter of those waited more than four hours for treatment - the highest proportion since at least 2010.
......
Johnson's exit strategy diverges from many other big economies, including Germany, France, Italy and Israel, which have either retained some basic COVID-19 measures like mask mandates or reintroduced them in response to rising cases.
Masks are still asked for in certain settings in England, including on public transport and when meeting infrequent contacts in enclosed spaces, but there is no legal requirement. As a result, mask usage has declined significantly
......
"We do not understand why the government has removed mandatory mask wearing in transport and in indoor settings like shops because that doesn't actually stop the economy functioning – but it would reduce infection," Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, told Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/johnson...021-11-04/
3:10 PM +08
Last Updated 5 hours ago
By Alistair Smout and Andrew Macaskill
......
Johnson outpaced many governments by lifting England's pandemic restrictions in one broad stroke in July, betting the National Health Service will be able to take the strain after a successful vaccination campaign. Some health frontliners, virologists and pandemic modellers aren't confident.
Even though COVID-19 hospitalisations are far lower than a year ago, the experts say pressures will be compounded by other winter viruses previously halted by lockdowns, as well as vaccine immunity fading and a backlog of treatment for other conditions.
......
While Britain's new cases have persisted above 30,000 a day since early September, vaccines have driven deaths from COVID-19 down by about 90% compared to January levels.
......
Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, predicted that the state-funded NHS would "get overwhelmed again".
......
Italian premier Mario Draghi said last month that he believed Britain had erred by opening up on July 19, a lesson that the world could not exit the crisis "in an instant".
"The United Kingdom, which was one of the countries that carried out the vaccination campaign with great speed, abandoning all caution, is now faced with about 50,000 daily infections and 200 deaths yesterday," he told lawmakers.
......
staff are overworked, stressed and exhausted trying to keep pace with an influx of patients at St Thomas' Hospital in London, where the prime minister said frontline workers saved his life last April.
"I absolutely detest walking towards the hospital when I go to work," Carr said. "I have checked in and really don't know how to get out."
......
the cumulative pressures are already straining the system, even though the 1,000 new COVID-19 admissions each day are lower than the 1,500 seen a year ago and 4,000 in January. And winter is yet to come.
Hospital accident and emergency departments treated 1.39 million patients in September, the highest number for any month on record. About a quarter of those waited more than four hours for treatment - the highest proportion since at least 2010.
......
Johnson's exit strategy diverges from many other big economies, including Germany, France, Italy and Israel, which have either retained some basic COVID-19 measures like mask mandates or reintroduced them in response to rising cases.
Masks are still asked for in certain settings in England, including on public transport and when meeting infrequent contacts in enclosed spaces, but there is no legal requirement. As a result, mask usage has declined significantly
......
"We do not understand why the government has removed mandatory mask wearing in transport and in indoor settings like shops because that doesn't actually stop the economy functioning – but it would reduce infection," Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, told Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/johnson...021-11-04/