![\"Covid\"](\"https:\/\/www.eldigitaldeasturias.com\/noticias\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Covid-19.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLondon (PA Media\/dpa) – British Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said he is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d that the government can \u201csubstantially reduce\u201d Covid restrictions next week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Javid told MPs it was likely \u201cwe have already reached the peak of the case numbers of hospitalizations\u201d as ministers prepare to review Plan B measures for England next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking in the Commons, he added: \u201cThe action that this government has taken in response to Omicron and the collective efforts of the British people have seen us become the most boosted country in Europe, the most tested country in Europe, and (have) the most antivirals per head in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we are the most open country in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always said that these restrictions should not stay in place a day longer than absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to these pharmaceutical defences and the likelihood that we have already reached the peak of the case numbers of hospitaliszations, I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to substantially reduce restrictions next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said scientists hope the \u201cdirection of travel\u201d for Covid-19 variants is that they become less severe.<\/p>\n
He told Times Radio it \u201cdoesn\u2019t do the virus any good\u201d to increase in severity, though new variants may prove to be even more transmissible than Omicron.<\/p>\n
Any new variant would need to \u201cout-compete Omicron\u201d through increased transmissibility or escape from immunity, and not through changes in severity, he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t do the virus any good to become increasingly severe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, it looks like the Omicron variant, by becoming more transmissible, that it\u2019s also become less severe, and we would hope that\u2019s the general direction of travel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that in future not everyone would need booster vaccines, adding: \u201cI think the people that we might want to think about boosting the most are the same as flu really \u2013 people with chronic illness and elderly people \u2013 and we\u2019ll probably move into a sort of more regular annual vaccination programme, or it may not even need to be that frequent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to wait for the evidence on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof Hayward agreed the \u201cpandemic will end\u201d and people will live with the virus continuing to transmit, \u201cbut causing much less disruption\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt will tend to, I think, settle into a seasonal pattern \u2013 we may still get quite big winters of infection but not the sort of level where we can justify wholesale societal closedown.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think it is genuinely an optimistic picture, but we\u2019re still not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The University College London (UCL) expert said there were \u201cvery encouraging signs\u201d of cases plateauing or dropping in some places, but nobody was sure whether they will stabilise at a very high level or dip down.<\/p>\n
The latest British data shows 84,429 people were reported as positive for Covid on Monday, with the seven-day rolling average showing a 42-per-cent drop in cases in a week.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, hospital admissions remain fairly static, though they are falling in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is due to be published on Wednesday afternoon which will show the level of infection across the community in people with and without symptoms.<\/p>\n
Across England there are currently 16,621 Covid patients in hospital, down from 17,120 a week ago.<\/p>\n
Latest government figures published on Tuesday show a further 438 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 \u2013 the highest daily number since February 24 last year.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Dr David Nabarro said it is \u201cimportant that there is no premature promising that restrictions will end at a particular time\u201d.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organiszation\u2019s special envoy on Covid-19 told \u00abBBC Breakfast\u00bb: \u201cI\u2019m a public health person … I would not be making promises some time in the future because, once you make a promise, it\u2019s super hard then to change what you\u2019re going to do \u2013 you feel you\u2019re kind of doing a U-turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis virus is constantly evolving and it\u2019s super hard to predict where it will be \u2013 we can say where we hope we\u2019re going to go, we can say where we\u2019d like to go, we can say what we think we need to do to get there \u2013 but making promises that we\u2019ll do something on a particular date, I think, is unwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nabarro reiterated his view that the situation in the UK \u201cgives us grounds for hope\u201d but continued to urge caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal that we\u2019re all aiming for is a situation where this virus is present, but life is organised so that it is not disrupted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need to be humble \u2013 this virus is continuing to evolve and we\u2019re never quite sure that we know exactly where it\u2019s going to go next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London (PA Media\/dpa) – British Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said he is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d that the government can \u201csubstantially reduce\u201d Covid restrictions next week. Javid told MPs it was likely \u201cwe have already reached the peak of the case numbers of hospitalizations\u201d as ministers prepare to review Plan B measures for England next Wednesday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1076351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t