LONDON (AP) – British hospitals cancel non-urgent procedures and seek space for patients with COVID-19, as coronavirus cases continue to rise despite new restrictions imposed to curb a new variant of the spreading virus quickly.
Another 41,385 confirmed cases were registered across the UK on Monday. It was the first time that the daily number of cases reported in the country exceeded 40,000, although many more tests are performed than before the pandemic.
Dr. Nick Scriven, immediate president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said the increase in the number of hospitalized patients was “extremely worrying.”
“With the figures approaching the highs from April, the systems will be stretched to the limit again,” he said.
British authorities blame a new variant of the coronavirus for the rising rate of infection in London and the south-east of England. They say the new version is transmitted more easily than the original, but the stress has no evidence to make people get sicker.
In response, authorities have put a strip of England where 24 million people live under restrictions that require closing non-essential shops, banning socialization inside and allowing restaurants and pubs to operate just to take away.
However, hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the south-east of England are approaching or exceeding the levels observed at the first peak of the outbreak. Government figures show that 21,286 people were hospitalized with coronavirus across the UK on 22 December, the last day for which data are available. This is only slightly below the maximum of 21,683 COVID-19 patients who were registered in UK hospitals on 12 April.
Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, described her experience working in a hospital on Christmas Day as “wall-to-wall COVID”.
“Most likely we will, but we will do it at a price,” Henderson told the BBC. “The cost is not to do what we had hoped for, as it is possible to maintain non-COVID activities.”
The UK has reported more than 71,000 deaths among people with coronavirus, one of the highest tolls in Europe. A further 357 deaths were recorded on Monday.
Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said more parts of England may need to be put on the level of more stringent restrictions if cases do not abate. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also implemented strong blockade measures.
However, there will soon be growing confidence help, with expectations that UK regulators will raise to authorize a second coronavirus vaccine this week.
According to British media reports, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency will give the green light to a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The regulator authorized a punch carried out by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech on December 2, making Britain the first country to access a rigorously tested vaccine. More than 600,000 people in the UK have received the first of two shots needed for the vaccine.
If the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is authorized this week, the public could start receiving it from January 4th. Britain has ordered 100 million doses, compared to the 40 million doses taken by Pfizer-BioNTech.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is considered a potential game changer in global vaccination efforts, as it is less expensive than taking Pfizer and does not need to be stored at freezer temperature, which facilitates distribution.
But it had fewer clear results from clinical trials than its main rivals. Partial results suggest that the shot is approximately 70% effective in preventing coronavirus infection, compared to the 95% efficacy reported for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
But the trials produced two different results based on the dosing regimen used. The researchers said the vaccine protected against the disease in 62% of those who received two full doses and in 90% of those who received half a dose followed by a full dose. However, the second group included only 2,741 people, too few to be conclusive.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times he was confident the vaccine would work against the new strain and be as effective as its rivals.
“We think we’ve figured out the winning formula and how to achieve an effectiveness that, after two doses, is there with everyone else,” Soriot said.
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