The UK is staying on course and does not anticipate an imminent return to health restrictions, despite a new growing wave of Covid-19 cases.

The British Minister for Health, Sajid Javid, on Wednesday 20 October resisted the call of doctors claiming him. 

A confederation of public health professionals has called for "immediate" measures when the rate of contamination is among the worst in the world, raising fears of congestion in hospitals.

"We are already in a situation where things are probably going to deteriorate in two or three weeks. That is why we have to act immediately," Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation of many public health organizations said on Wednesday morning. on Sky News.

Without measure, he insisted, the pressure will increase on the health system as winter approaches, a period already generally tense for hospitals.

Relaunch vaccination

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Rejecting this option, Sajid Javid called on the 5 million people over the age of 16 who have not yet been vaccinated to remedy this, and asked that those affected by a vaccine booster accept it. He also announced on Wednesday an agreement for the purchase of thousands of doses of new antiviral treatments from Merck and Pfizer laboratories for the most vulnerable, whose approval is expected in the coming weeks.

"If an insufficient number of people get their vaccine booster (...), if people don't wear masks when it is better to do so (...), it will affect us all, and of course make it more likely additional restrictions, ”he added.

"We need to maintain the progress we have made, we could lose it if people do not accept offers of vaccination."

>> To read also: "Covid-19: the British government gives up the vaccine passport"

If the government's plan is to rely on the vaccination campaign and treatments against Covid-19 to limit the impact of the health crisis this winter, rather than impose restrictions or confinement, Sajid Javid does not has not ruled out the implementation of a "plan B" with recourse to teleworking and a health pass.

The fear of reaching 100,000 cases per day

Britain on Tuesday reported 223 additional deaths linked to the coronavirus epidemic, a daily record since last March, while nearly 50,000 new infections were reported on Wednesday - a peak in Europe.

The total death toll has exceeded 139,000 deaths, the second in Europe after Russia.

Under pressure, the Minister of Health warned in the press that the cases "could reach 100,000 per day" and recognized that the pressure was increasing on hospitals with nearly 1,000 admissions per day of patients with Covid- 19.

For now, the number of hospitalized patients remains well below the January level (less than 8,000 against nearly 40,000), as the number of deaths (nearly 140 per day against more than 1,000).

But the trend is deteriorating.

Health authorities are also monitoring a new subvariant (AY4.2) of the highly contagious Delta spreading in the UK.

"There is no reason to believe at this stage that it poses a greater risk," assured the Minister of Health.

Boris Johnson's government lifted most of the anti-Covid restrictions in England in July after a long winter lockdown.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, competent in health issues, continue to impose the wearing of masks indoors.

With AFP and Reuters

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