A record number of daily coronavirus cases have been reported across the UK for the second day running, with 88,376 infections confirmed on Thursday.

England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said the Omicron variant could rise "incredibly fast", but its peak subside quickly due to boosters.

There was also a record for top-up vaccines with 745,183 third or booster doses being given on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson has urged people to use "caution" in the face of the variant.

But the prime minister insisted England was not being put into lockdown by stealth, after some of his own MPs had accused the government of putting hospitality under an "effective lockdown".

Meanwhile, the Queen has cancelled her traditional pre-Christmas lunch as a precautionary measure amid the surge of the Omicron variant.

 

And Wales has introduced a two-stage plan in response to coronavirus with guidance - such as taking a lateral flow test ahead of socialising - for the Christmas period before legal restrictions come into force on 27 December.

These will include all nightclubs closing, 2m social distancing in offices and other measures to protect customers and staff.

A further 146 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported on Thursday across the UK.

Daily cases were up from 78,610 on Wednesday, itself a record, and more than 30,000 up on last Thursday when 50,867 infections were reported.

• What are the Christmas rules this year?
• Highest daily Covid cases - what does it tell us?
• Will tougher measures stop the spread of Omicron?

Prof Whitty said the peak of the Omicron wave may fall faster than previous Covid-19 peaks, although he said the upswing will be "incredibly fast".

But he added that this was just a possibility, adding that the rate of growth would slow down once people had received booster vaccines or been infected by the variant. 

 

Speaking to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, he said that even with people acting cautiously the rise in Omicron cases would still be "very fast".

But the booster programme was the route back to a "more normal track", Prof Whitty said.

Plan B measures and "really critically the booster programme" were intended to slow things down, he said, but he added that "if the facts change and it becomes clearer that things are heading the wrong way, ministers are always going to take constant reviews of this".

Prof Whitty said if vaccines were less effective than expected against Omicron then that would be a "material change" in how ministers viewed risks going forward. 

 READ MORE:https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59688186  FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW ###########!!!!! 

These are strange times. Over the last few days, we have seen a massive rise in Covid case numbers in New South Wales, going from 482 last Sunday to 2,213 on Friday. For the same period, the effective reproduction number has gone from 1.37 to 2.12, which tells us that case numbers will now double every four days. This increase in case numbers is partially due to increased social gatherings as we approach Christmas, and potentially the impact of the Omicron variant now spreading in NSW.

The Omicron was only declared a variant of concern by WHO on 26 November, yet it is rapidly infecting people around the world, and now accounts for 20% of all cases in the UK. Initial laboratory data shows that this highly mutated variant is about twice as transmissible as the Delta variant, and more easily evades immunity. Current vaccines appear to give lower protection against being infected with Omicron. However, being fully vaccinated does give you some protection against serious illness and death from Omicron. Importantly, we now know that the mRNA boosters, including Pfizer and half-dose Moderna, give well over 70% protection against symptomatic infection by Omicron.

 

Because of this, countries like the US and the UK are swiftly rolling out booster shots, allowing people to have one 12 weeks after their second dose. A week ago, we were told that we would have to wait six months from our second dose before we could get a booster. Then Atagi changed that to five months. I can pretty much guarantee that, before long, Atagi will change it to three months – but in the meantime, thousands of people will get infected. Why don’t we ever learn from other countries and follow their lead earlier?

Better news is that Omicron appears to be milder than Delta and even the original Wuhan strain, with lower rates of hospitalisation and death. However, much of the current information about Omicron is in unpublished literature and yet to be confirmed. Even more reason not to take risks with public health measures.

So, you would think that a sensible approach would be putting on the brakes and increasing public health measures. But in this Alice in Wonderland world we live in, the NSW government has just removed most of the public health measures aimed at reducing transmission. It is all fine, according to Brad Hazzard, the NSW health minister: “The real focus should be, and will remain, that we have a health system that can cope.” This has been echoed by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, who wants the focus to shift from case numbers to the number of people becoming seriously ill and requiring hospitalisation.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/17/our-leaders-are-living-in-wonderland-if-they-think-covid-case-numbers-dont-matter

 

Read from top.

 

assange

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says it is time to "stand tall" in the face of rising COVID-19 infections, with the state recording 2,566 new cases.

Key points:

• The NSW Premier says ICU presentations are the "key metric"
• More than 57,000 booster shots were given across the state last week
• Brad Hazzard has responded to calls to reinstate masks and QR code mandates

 

Sunday's case count is the highest tally of daily coronavirus cases in Australia, increasing from the 2,482 cases announced on Saturday.

More than 57,000 people in NSW have received a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine in the last seven days, up from 15,000 the week before.

Mr Perrottet said the government was closely monitoring the situation but stressed booster shots were the key to protecting the community from the virus.

"As we move through the next phase, case numbers will increase. That is the new normal," he said.

Presentations to intensive care units were the "key metric" to consider, he said.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-19/nsw-records-2566-new-covid-19-cases/100711992

 

 

 

New South Wales has recorded 12,226 new cases of coronavirus ahead of a national cabinet meeting responding to the Omicron outbreak that has caused a surge in cases around the country.

The state’s new infections came as the results of 97,201 tests were returned in the 24 hours to 8 pm on Wednesday.

One death was reported and there are now 746 people in hospital, with 63 of them in intensive care.

On Wednesday, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant warned “there is probably more disease in the community than the numbers reflect” as testing laboratories clear backlogs.

The daily caseload hit 11,201 new infections on Wednesday — up more than 5000 on the previous day’s 6062 — along with three deaths.

The spiking case numbers follow NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard’s December 15 warning that modelling suggested “by the end of January, we could be looking at 25,000 cases of the virus every single day”.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/12/30/12226-new-cases-nsw-testing-changes/?breaking_live_scroll=1

 

Read from top.

 

See also: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/42741

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!