With the Ômicron variant across the country, the United Kingdom registered a record number of new cases of coronavirus this Thursday (23). There are 119,789 confirmations, against 106,122 on Wednesday (22).
Many industries and transport networks are facing staff shortages as sick workers are isolated while hospitals warn of risk to patient safety.
Ômicron’s rapid advance has led to an increase in the number of cases in the UK over the past seven days, from 678,165 new confirmations, government data showed.
As Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s conservative government struggles to limit the economic impact of the latest Covid-19 outbreak, the government official said on Wednesday that he was cutting England’s statutory period of self-isolation from 10 days to seven.
This change, which aims to get people back to work sooner, applies to people who had to isolate themselves after contracting Covid-19 but who, after the seven days of isolation, tested negative on two consecutive days.
Johnson, who staked a lot of political capital on Christmas 2021 as being “considerably better” than the year before, on Tuesday scrapped further restrictions before the 25th, saying there were uncertainties about the seriousness of Ômicron and hospitalization rates.
However, he has not ruled out new measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 after Christmas Day, which falls on Saturday, if the situation escalates.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already announced further post-Christmas restrictions.
Reference: CNN Brasil
