Fears the NHS could be overwhelmed with Omicron cases, one of the key concerns that spooked ministers into talk of Christmas lockdowns, appear to be unfounded based on the current data, it was claimed last night.
London’s hospitals have seen a spike in cases of patients with coronavirus, leading to fears hospitalisations are following the exponential increases seen with cases in recent weeks.
However, figures show up to 40 per cent of new Covid admissions in the past week only tested positive after arriving at hospital, possibly for a different illness or ailment.
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The UK Government’s handling of what Boris Johnson warned will be a ‘tidal wave’ of Omicron infections verges on hysteria.
With predictions of one million cases by the end of the month and concerns about the NHS being overwhelmed with up to 10,000 hospitalisations per day, I gather there is talk of Christmas again being cancelled and a possible New Year lockdown.
Yet you only have to look at the picture in South Africa, where the world’s first known cases of Omicron were spotted, to realise this reaction is out of all proportion to the risks posed by this variant.
And I should know — because I am the doctor who first raised the alarm about Omicron back in November.
A father-of-one died of a severe brain-bleed just 11 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, an inquest has heard.
Adam Bounds, 41, passed away at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth on May 31 this year after his Covid-19 vaccine caused a ‘very rare’ fatal side effect.
Dr Wayne Thomas, a consultant haematologist at Derriford Hospital, told the Plymouth coroner Mr Bounds’ diagnosis was ‘vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia’.
Italy has brought in tougher restrictions for unvaccinated people as the holidays draw near, excluding them from indoor restaurants, theatres and museums to reduce the spread of coronavirus and encourage vaccine skeptics to get their jabs.
Only those who have the ‘Super Green Pass’, which requires Italians to be double-jabbed rather than providing a negative Covid test result, will be able to fully participate in public life from Monday.
Italian police will be checking will be checking whether those visiting indoor restaurants, bars, concerts, sports events, theatres and public events, have the ‘super’ green health pass until January 15.
Data on confirmed Covid cases in England show how the Omicron variant is already taking hold in the country
Proportion of confirmed positive tests that didn’t detect the spike protein increased from 0.1% to 0.3%
One scientist said it equates around 60 more cases with hallmark than usual, suggesting Omicron infections
Comes as R rate spirals from less than one to 3.5 in South Africa’s Omicron epicentre Gauteng province
Lead UK epidemiologist says Omicron infections likely appear mild because of immunity from past infections
WHO officials suggested on Thursday that Covid cases were milder in those who caught the Omicron strain
Scientists believe they have solved the mystery behind the extremely rare blood clots caused by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
A team of international experts, involving researchers from AstraZeneca, say that in a very small number of cases, the vaccine can set off a chain reaction which leads to the body confusing its own blood platelets for fragments of virus.
A fit and active 26-year-old man has mysterious died with fears he may have suffered fatal side effects 12 days after receiving Pfizer’s Covid vaccine.
Rory James Nairn, 26, had heart palpitations for several days before collapsing to the floor of his Dunedin home in New Zealand on November 17.
Face masks and other social distancing measures may in fact impede on children’s development, a new study executed by Brown University has found
The probe analyzed the cognitive development of the youngsters through infancy, childhood and adolescence
In the study, researchers first analyzed 1,070 assessments administered on 605 kids prior to March 2020, when COVID lockdowns and masking began
A further 154 assessments from 118 kids administered between March 2020 and June 2021, during the height of the pandemic, were then carried out
Thirty-nine children born in 2018 and 2019 were analyzed over the course of the pandemic, into 2021.
The report found that there was a 23 per cent drop in scores measuring kids’ intelligence quotients since the start of the pandemic
The study also found similar dips in the same span in regards to developing children’s ability to communicate, both verbally and though subtle facial cues
Terrified Indigenous Australians are being taken by army to quarantine facilities
At-risk remote Aboriginal communities have been hit by a new Covid outbreak
Authorities have started moving positive cases and contacts to Howard Springs
Elder from Larrakia country claimed people were ‘being taken against their will’
But Indigenous man quarantining in facility said everyone is being treated well
Binjari and Rockhole residents aren’t allowed to shop or even go for a walk
It is currently the strictest lockdown on earth with hundreds trapped at home
Arguments to vaccinate children as young as five against Covid are ‘scientifically weak’, British experts claimed today after the US moved closer to jabbing infants.
…Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia told MailOnline: ‘Vaccinating children to protect adults via herd immunity is ethically dubious and is scientifically weak.’
…Professor Russell Viner, a pediatrician and member of the UK Government’s scientific advisory group SAGE, said it was crucial the UK does not ‘rush to a decision’ in the wake of the announcement in the US.
Boston Consulting Group – paid £28million – held a boozy party this month
Images of the lavish bash showed scores of cocktails and string quartet
Unfortunate timing meant two weeks later the spend on the company was slated
Public Accounts Committee said NHS Test and Trace system failed objective
It said it had not ‘broken chains of COVID-19 transmission’ as it had intended
The PAC said it was ‘overly reliant on expensive contractors and temporary staff’
BCG declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline over the party
Lord John Mann said they should ‘hang heads in shame’ and give money back
The head of the NHS today said the health service was never overwhelmed by Covid during the height of the pandemic.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs expanding critical care, introducing new treatments and rolling out the vaccine prevented wards from being overrun over the last year-and-a-half.
Cathy Eastburn is an Insulate Britain protester planning to ‘unleash hell’ on roads
She has been arrested several times at blockades and with Extinction Rebellion
Now revealed she is married to Ben Plowden, a Transport for London director
TfL’s services have been severely impacted by Insulate Britain as well as XR
Ms Eastburn also has allowed activist David McKenny to stay at their £1.5million South London family home
First major inquiry into the Covid crisis says the tragic losses in care homes were among the highest in Europe
The report finds that deaths could have been prevented but instead elderly were treated as ‘an afterthought’
Finding is just one among catalogue of failings detailed in the inquiry by the health and science committees
The report found test and trace system which cost Government £37billion was also branded ‘chaotic’ fiasco
No10’s Test and Trace system has had barely any impact on thwarting the spread of Covid, according to official estimates.
The controversial £37billion scheme has been heavily criticised over the past year for being ineffective at breaking the chains of transmission.
New Government modelling found the programme – which critics have described as being the biggest ever waste of taxpayer money – may have only slashed cases by as little as six per cent.
Most blue surgical face masks used by many during the pandemic are not enough to avoid people from being infected with COVID-19, an alarming new study has found.
Pfizer’s Covid vaccine may pose more of a risk to boys, a study claimed today amid growing calls for No10 to rethink plans to dish out jabs to children.
New research has suggested boys are 14 times more likely to be struck down with a rare heart complication called myocarditis.
The data, from the US, will likely fuel an already fierce debate over Britain’s decision to press ahead with inoculating all 16 and 17-year-olds.
Cash in people’s pockets would be superseded by a new ‘Britcoin’ digital currency in a plan being pushed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
In what Treasury insiders say would be the biggest upheaval in the monetary system for centuries, the Bank of England would establish a direct digital equivalent to physical money and take control of it in the same way as sterling.
Its supporters in the Treasury say that it would allow the Bank to give the economy a boost in times of financial crisis by paying the ‘Britcoins’ directly into people’s bank accounts.
British health chiefs have quietly released a warning that Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid vaccines may cause heart damage, MailOnline can reveal.
Fears about the mRNA jabs’ links to myocarditis have grown in recent weeks, following a string of cases in young adults and children in Israel and the US.
British health chiefs did war-game a coronavirus pandemic before the nation was eventually hit by Covid but tried to keep it secret, it was revealed today.
Matt Hancock — who faced a grilling from MPs today about No10’s failures throughout the virus crisis — has only ever confessed to carrying out a mock-up of a flu crisis called Exercise Cygnus.
