UK Covid Update – March 25th

 

As in Canada, Covid-19 infections increased in the United Kingdom. In just one week, one million cases have increased, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Tests suggest that every 16th person is infected and all due to the Omicron variant, which is the most contagious. This means that more than 4 million people have it, up from around 3 million the previous week.

In Scotland they had the highest number of cases in the entire pandemic, the “record” is already that one in 11 Scots contracted the virus. England and Wales did increase in cases, but Scotland had the most. Unlike Northern Ireland, where infections declined and continue to decline.

Overall rates showed that in England 6% of the population is infected versus 4% last week. In Wales, it is now 6% while last week it was 4%. In Ireland, it declined to 5% when previously it was 7% and in Scotland, they now have 9% when last week it was 7%.

Due to the increase in the number of infections, British authorities also expect an increase in hospitalizations due to the virus. Although they claim that the vaccines are helping to keep the cases presented from being as serious as they are now, they are not expecting to see an increase in the number of hospitalizations due to the virus.

The latest record of hospitalizations indicates that there were 17,440 Covid patients. Unfortunately, the rate of staff absenteeism in hospitals also increased, with 31% absent this week, equivalent to more than 23,000 health personnel.