Covid-19 in the United Kingdom: the Omicron variant panics just before Christmas
In Oxford Street, London's famous shopping avenue, on December 18, 2021. The spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 worries Londoners.
AP - Frank Augstein
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The country recorded its highest number of contaminations on Friday, December 17, with 93,000 new positive cases.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, launched a "
major incident
" procedure on Saturday.
The government, meanwhile, is considering further restrictions, while the British worry, fearing a second Christmas cancellation in a row.
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With our correspondent in London,
Marie Boëda
Claire walks at full speed in the streets of the capital. Bags of gifts surround her newborn baby, comfortably installed in his stroller. Last year, she couldn't celebrate Christmas: “
We canceled what we had planned to do. We get tested every day. We take all the precautions we can to make sure we spend Christmas together.
"
Same fight for Rose, 79, masked, her
third dose of vaccine
in her arm.
She too has postponed most of her dates.
His goal: to spend Christmas with the family.
“
There will probably be seven of us. But we'll be in a big house.
And the windows and doors will stay open all the time.
I think people have a lot more common sense than they realize.
We certainly have more common sense than our government.
"
"We had to cancel, for fear of transmitting the virus to them"
For Alex, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson
should tighten the restrictions.
Too worried, he will celebrate Christmas in a small group: “
We were to go to Wales next week to see my sister and my brother-in-law, but we had to cancel all that.
We were afraid of passing the virus on to them because we might be asymptomatic.
Or they could give it to us ...
"
Alex agreed to see his nephew, but only if he tested himself every day.
The problem is, it's getting harder and harder to buy tests.
Pharmacies are out of stock.
On Saturday, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said that "
the increase in the number of cases of the
Omicron variant
" in London "
is of great concern
".
This prompted him to declare, for the second time since the start of the pandemic, a "
major incident
".
The last time the procedure was triggered was on January 8, when hospitals in the capital were threatened with flooding.
This alert procedure involves a coordinated response from the public services.
Many of them such as hospitals, firefighters or the police are thus faced with staff shortages, due to absences caused by the virus.
BREAKING: Today I have declared a major incident in London in response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant across our capital.
This will help us avoid disruption to frontline services - and to the life-saving booster vaccine rollout.
https://t.co/noZeioEage
- Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 18, 2021
New restrictions after Christmas?
According to the municipality, London has registered 65,525 new cases of Covid-19 in the last seven days, including 26,418 in the last 24 hours alone.
The British health security agency said more than 10,000 new confirmed cases of the Omicron variant have been detected, bringing the total to nearly 25,000.
Since the start of the pandemic, 147,000 people have died in the UK.
Sadiq Khan called on all Londoners to get vaccinated.
And, according to several British media, the government plans to ban indoor gatherings after Christmas for two weeks, in an attempt to break the wave of contamination.
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