Analysis: next few weeks will be tough for anyone who relies on the health service as well as those who work in it
The wording of the four home nations’ chief medical officers joint statement on Sunday was undramatic but still ominous. “Transmission of Covid-19 is already high in the community, mainly still driven by Delta, but the emergence of Omicron adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services.”
Given that “vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced … hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly”, they added.
