Analysis: The health service greets the latest twist in the saga with a mixture of weary self-belief and nervousness
How much of a threat does the emergence of Omicron pose to the NHS? Among hospital bosses there is a curious combination of apprehension that the new variant could lead to a surge in infections but also a battle-weary belief, born of negotiating the previous waves of Covid-19, that they can handle a potentially major rise in people seriously ill with the disease.
“Trusts are already making contingency plans for what would happen if there were to be a significant spread of this variant and it turned out that the symptoms and disease produced as a result is as serious as with the Delta variant,” said Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts in England.
