Britain: Army called in to help Omicron – Serious shortages of medical personnel

The British Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that it has begun deploying the army to support hospitals facing staff shortages and extreme pressures due to the country’s record COVID-19 cases.

The government said 200 members of the Armed Forces had been deployed to support the National Health Service (NHS) in London over the next three weeks.

Britain is battling an unprecedented outbreak of the Omicron variant and has announced more than 150,000 new cases every day in the last week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain could withstand the tide without new restrictions thanks to vaccination and the lower risk of the variant, but warned that some difficult weeks were coming as staffing was disrupted by the self-isolation of many.

The government has also deployed armed forces to assist with testing and vaccination programs for COVID-19.

“Once again they are coming to the aid of NHS staff working around the clock around the capital, assisting health services in this difficult winter season when there is a greater need,” said Health Minister Sajid Javid.

Britain has reported nearly 150,000 deaths from COVID-19 and, two years after the pandemic, the state health service was already facing a morale and staff crisis even before the recent Omicron outbreak. A report said the staff crisis could derail efforts to meet record-breaking waiting lists.

Chad Nagpol, chairman of the Council of the British Medical Association, said there were unprecedented levels of staff shortages in the NHS. , Nagpol told Sky News.