Anger at 'hammer blow' travel test rule change: Tourism bosses fury
Anger at ‘hammer blow’ travel test rule change: Tourism bosses fury as government says ALL travellers will need to take lateral flow or PCR test 48 hours before heading to UK starting on Tuesday in second Covid rule change in a week
- Bosses said forcing people to take a pre-departure test would ‘devastate livelihoods’ and see ‘businesses fail’
- Ministers last night said the draconian kerbs were hoped to be temporary due to new data on Omicron strain
- The move, which will be brought in Tuesday, was welcomed by Labour which has been pressing for more tests
- It came as the latest figures from UK Health Security Agency showed as of Saturday there were 26 more cases
Travel chiefs have been left furious after the government imposed new restrictions on all passengers entering the UK, describing them as a ‘hammer blow’ for the industry.
Bosses said forcing travellers to take a Covid pre-departure test to try to stamp out the Omicron super-variant would ‘devastate livelihoods’ and see ‘businesses fail’.
Ministers last night said the draconian kerbs were hoped to be temporary after they said new data showed an increase in the number of cases of the new strain linked to foreign travel.
The move, which will be brought in on Tuesday, was welcomed by Labour which has been pressing for the return of pre-departure tests since the variant was first identified in South Africa.
It came as the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency showed as of Saturday, a further 26 cases of the strain had been reported across Britain – taking the total so far to 160.
Elsewhere in the never-ending pandemic:
- Kate Garraway told Piers Morgan how Covid-stricken husband Derek said ‘I love you’ again after his battle;
- Covid cases in South Africa have soared by a massive 408 per cent in just one week while deaths rose to 21;
- Scientists said Omicron may spread easily due to sharing some genetic material with the common cold virus;
- Heart attack victims lost their lives because doctors are obliged to put on full Covid-protection equipment;
- Richard E Grant said that he feels ‘punished’ after being forced to quarantine in a hotel that serves ‘grim food’.
People wait outside the Covid-19 testing facility at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in west London last week as new rules on travel were enforced
Kate Garraway’s tearfully tells Piers Morgan how her Covid-stricken husband Derek said ‘I love you’ again for the first time on host’s last ever Life Stories – before she takes over
The Good Morning Britain presenter reveals tonight that the former Labour spin doctor, whom she has nursed since his near-fatal medical crisis last year, has finally uttered the phrase she has longed to hear: ‘I love you.’
Fighting back tears, Ms Garraway vows to Piers Morgan in his final episode of Life Stories that she will ‘never give up’ on Mr Draper after his 13-month battle in hospital – the longest of any surviving Covid patient.
In the highly emotional interview, she discusses with MoS columnist Morgan how her husband managed three words – ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ – to him on the telephone the night before the programme was recorded last month.
She continues: ‘It’s moments like that which make you realise he is there, and we have had others. He will turn to me and say ‘I love you.’ He is there, he has fought so hard to stay in this world and I’m not giving up on him, ever.
‘He will have moments of clarity, then it’s like he disappears but then he finds a voice.’
The travel sector said the return of pre-departure tests was another ‘hammer blow’ for an industry which was just beginning to pick up again after the devastation wrought by the pandemic.
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said it directly contradicted assurances given by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and he called on the Government to step in and support the sector.
‘The introduction of pre-departure testing with little warning is a hammer blow to the business travel industry,’ he said.
‘Public safety is a priority, but businesses will fail, travellers will be stranded and livelihoods devastated by the lack of coherent plans from Government.’
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body Airlines UK, said the rapidly changing measures meant planning was becoming impossible.
He said: ‘It is premature to hit millions of passengers and industry before we see the full data. We don’t have the clinical evidence.’
He added: ‘These measures must be removed as quickly as possible in line with the speed of the booster programme.’
The Airport Operators Association chief executive Karen Dee said pre-departure tests were a ‘major deterrent to travel’.
She said: ‘Most of the limited remaining demand following the reintroduction of self-isolation will now fall away, just as airports were hoping for a small uplift over the Christmas holiday.’
And chairman of the Association of British Travel Agents Alistair Rowland told the Sunday Times: ‘We had got into a fragile recovery.’
He went on: ‘That’s already been shattered by the mixed messaging around the new variant. This will kill it completely.
‘Since last weekend, demand has dropped by more than 50 per cent in terms of booking holidays for future seasons. There is no consumer confidence.’
On Friday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (pictured) assured travellers that pre-departure tests would not be introduced, marking more muddled messaging from Government ministers
South Africa’s Covid cases rise by 408% in a week as Omicron wave continues
Covid cases in South Africa have soared by a massive 408 per cent in just one week while deaths rose from eight to 21 across the same time period, according to the latest figures.
The country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases recorded another 16,366 cases in the last 24 hours – with the vast majority in epicentre Gauteng province.
This was a 408 per cent increase from last Saturday, when just 3,220 new infections were registered across the previous 24 hours. It is not known which variant the new cases recorded were.
The Omicron-stricken country also recorded 21 deaths on Saturday, up 162 per cent from last week when 8 deaths were announced.
NICD data is based on lateral flow and PCR tests done across South Africa every day. It showed that in the country’s nine provinces most new infections were recorded in Gauteng with 11,607 new cases.
The latest figures bring the total number of cases in South Africa up to 3,020,569, while the number of deaths have increased to a total of 89,956.
The new measures for England, which come into force at 4am on Tuesday, were announced late on Saturday by Health Secretary Sajid Javid and were immediately followed by the Scottish and Welsh government.
It means passengers travelling to the UK will have to take either a PCR or a lateral flow test up to a maximum of 48 hours before they depart regardless of their vaccination status.
Mr Javid said: ‘We have always said we would act swiftly if we need to if the changing data requires it.
‘These are temporary measures we want to remove them as soon as we possibly can, but before we learn more about Omicron it is right that we have these measures in place.’
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the ‘u-turn’ after ministers previously resisted calls to reintroduce pre-departure tests but said they should have moved sooner.
‘We badly need them to learn the lessons on the importance of acting quickly on Covid border measures rather than each time having to be put under huge pressure to finally act,’ she said.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it had acted in part because said new analysis by the UK Health and Security Agency suggested the window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for Omicron.
It said this increased the efficacy of pre-departure testing, making it more likely it would to identify positive cases before travel.
In a further move the Government said that Nigeria was being added to the travel red list after 21 cases of the Omicron variant in England were linked to travel from the west African nation.
From 4am on Monday only British and Irish nationals and residents travelling from Nigeria will be allowed into the country and must isolate in a Government-managed quarantine hotel.
The Omicron variant has now been discovered in 38 countries but has not yet resulted in any deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
Official data shows that the proportion of positive Covid tests with a mutation synonymous with the highly-evolved strain is on the rise. Like Alpha, or the ‘Kent variant’, Omicron has a specific alteration which means it can be detected through PCR tests without the need for genomic sequencing. The proportion of positive tests in England with this so-called S-gene dropout has risen from 0.1 per cent in the past week to 0.3 per cent, the equivalent of one in 330. Scientists said the increase in S-gene dropouts suggests there could be hundreds of Omicron cases that are flying under the radar currently
UK finds another 26 cases of Omicron Covid variant
Britain’s Covid crisis presented a mixed picture today as a further 26 cases of the Omicron variant were reported and hospitalisations were continuing to rise – but the number of deaths is falling, according to official figures.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show 127 people died with the virus today, down 3.1 per cent on last Saturday’s total of 131.
But 42,848 new infections were recorded in the country over the last 24 hours, up 8.3 per cent on the 39,567 recorded last week.
And the UK Health Security Agency said a further 26 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported across the UK, with 25 of these in England, meaning the total number of confirmed cases of the variant in Britain now stands at 160.
It is the fourth day in a row cases have risen across Britain, with officials discovering 75 new cases of the Omicron variant in England yesterday.
And the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus also increased 5.6 per cent in a week to 812 on Tuesday, the latest date data is available for.
Ministers expect a breakthrough in tests of the Omicron variant by the end of this week. Two senior sources said the time-frame to assess whether Omicron was mild or posed a serious threat was cut from ‘four-to-six weeks’.
A Government source said positive news from Porton Down would mean the pre-departure test would be dropped, and added early clinical evidence on Omicron cases showed a short period between becoming infected and being infectious, which is why testing people before they leave for the UK is aimed to stop importing the variant.
The Scottish Government also announced travellers arriving in the country will also be required to take pre-departure Covid tests from 4am on December 7 to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
International passengers will have to provide a negative pre-departure test taken two days before travelling, in addition to a negative PCR test on or before day two after arrival, under measures agreed on a four-nation basis.
The Scottish Government said the changes were informed by a UK Health Security Agency risk assessment.
Scotland’s Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: ‘It is essential we take steps now to keep people safe, protect the rollout of the booster programme and reduce the chances of unsustainable pressure being placed on the NHS over the winter.
‘We have always said it may be necessary to quickly implement fresh measures to protect public health in Scotland, particularly with regards to international travel, and these restrictions are proportionate and necessary to that aim.
‘We fully understand the impact the changes will have on staff and businesses in the travel and aviation sectors, particularly as the new variant came at a time when we were beginning to see some signs of recovery. We will not keep the restrictions in place any longer than is necessary.’
Following announcements from Downing Street and the Scottish Government, a Welsh Government spokesman confirmed it will also introduce pre-departure tests for travellers.
They said: ‘In line with the rest of the UK we will be taking action to move Nigeria onto the red list from Monday and to introduce pre-departure tests for travellers into the UK and Wales.’
Data in South Africa shows the R-rate has soared to over three per cent in recent weeks as Omicron took hold in Gauteng province
Heart attack patients are dying because medics can’t put on full PPE in time to resuscitate them, say doctors at a leading health trust
Heart attack victims have lost their lives because doctors are still obliged to put on full Covid-protection equipment before resuscitating them in hospitals, The Mail on Sunday has been told.
Doctors at a leading health trust in London say that valuable time is being lost when patients go into cardiac arrest as doctors struggle to put on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Although the guidance from Public Health England (PHE) is that they ‘strongly advise that there is no potential delay in delivering this life saving intervention’ for Covid reasons, it is still left to ‘Healthcare organisations [to] choose [whether or not] to advise their clinical staff to wear FFP3 respirators, gowns, eye protection and gloves when performing chest compressions’.
The new rules come after the Transport Secretary said on Friday ministers did not want to introduce pre-departure tests and unnecessarily ‘kill off the travel sector again’.
He insisted the Government has brought forward a ‘calibrated response’ to the new Omicron super-mutant variant ‘which doesn’t take us right back to the beginning of this’.
On The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, he said: ‘Lots of countries do require if you are going to them for pre-testing. We are not requiring that at the moment.
‘I heard the Leader of the Opposition calling for that from the despatch box at Prime Minister’s Questions this week.
‘Do you want to kill off the travel sector again, without knowing that you need to? Or do you want to take the right level of calibrated response?’
‘And this Government thinks we should take a calibrated response which doesn’t take us right back to the beginning of this.’
But yesterday, he tweeted: ‘As the scientists work to understand new Omicron variant we need to apply additional caution until picture is clearer.
‘We appreciate this will be difficult for the travel sector as we prioritise public health & protect the progress of our world-leading vax & booster programme.’
He also called for further action including increasing the number of booster jabs given to 500,000 per day.
Britain’s Covid crisis presented a mixed picture yesterday, with deaths falling but cases and hospitalisations continuing to rise, according to Government data.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show 127 people died with the virus yesterday, down 3.1 per cent on last Saturday’s total of 131.
But 42,848 new infections were recorded in the country over the last 24 hours, up 8.3 per cent on the 39,567 recorded last week.
It was the fourth day in a row cases have risen across Britain, with a further 26 cases of the Omicron variant were reported across the UK, meaning the total number of confirmed cases of the variant in Britain now stands at 160.
And the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus also increased 5.6 per cent in a week to 812 on Tuesday, the latest date data is available for.
Another 75 cases of the super-mutant Omicron variant were identified in England yesterday and a further 26 across the UK.
It brings the total number of confirmed Omicron infections for the whole of the UK up to 160, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.
Cases of the new variant were identified in the East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, South East, South West and West Midlands.
In total 18million Britons have had a booster jab so far and, after yesterday’s guidance change, all 53million adults over 18 will be eligible eventually. At the current rate of 2.4million jabs per week, it would take until March to get everyone boosted
Withnail star Richard E. Grant complains that he feels ‘punished’ in £228-per-night UK quarantine hotel with ‘grim food’ after being caught out by sudden South Africa travel rules change
Actor Richard E. Grant has said he feels ‘punished’ after being forced to quarantine for Covid in a hotel that charges more than £228 a night and serves ‘grim food’.
The Withnail And I star had been visiting his 90-year-old mother in southern Africa when the Government enforced new travel restrictions to fight the Omicron variant.
He complained of ‘poor’ food at a Gatwick Holiday Inn.
Grant, 64, posted pictures on Twitter of a packaged tuna and cucumber sandwich, a sausage casserole and fish and chips, which he said would cost less than £30 to buy elsewhere.
Speaking in a video posted online, Grant, who used to present the hotel review television series Richard E. Grant’s Hotel Secrets, said: ‘I went to southern Africa to visit my 90-year-old mother and got caught by the red region Covid restrictions.
‘I understand there are security costs in the hotel and you’ve got to pay for two Covid tests, but £228 a day to receive three meals of this very poor standard, in a supposed four-star Holiday Inn hotel, beggars belief.’
Grant said he was ‘confounded’ that a ‘non-quarantine Holiday Inn nearby costs £89 incl breakfast’ and asked: ‘How does Gov [ernment] justify this cost to a traveller for ‘hospitality’… feels punishing!’
A Government spokesman said: ‘The majority of passengers who have used the Managed Quarantine Service have been satisfied with the service.’
Scotland’s cases yesterday increased by 16 to 29, while Wales announced Friday afternoon that its first case had been found in Cardiff. No cases have been found in Northern Ireland.
NHS bosses revealed Britain’s accelerated booster programme to protect against the Omicron Covid variant will not start for another nine days, with pressure mounting on the goal to reach all adults by the end of January.
The UKHSA data showed 372,577 booster doses were dished out across the country yesterday, taking Britain’s total up to 19.8million people — 34.4 per cent of the eligible population.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said that all adults should become eligible for boosters three months after their second dose — bringing down the wait time from six months.
But the booking service for the jabs is yet to be updated and adults who received their jab three months ago could be forced to wait until December 13 to organise their third dose.
Ministers set a target of dishing out 500,000 doses a day to reach its January goal, but if capacity is not ramped up until mid-December this will not be achieved until February 8 at the current pace of the rollout.
Experts are hopeful No10’s ‘booster programme on steroids’ will help prevent Britain’s rising Omicron infections translating into severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths.
Meanwhile scientists claimed the Omicron variant may spread more easily than other Covid strains because it shares some genetic material with the common cold virus and is more infectious among children.
A study led by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm Nference, shows the strain contains a genetic sequence common in other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome.
By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look ‘more human,’ which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan, who led the study posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints.
This could mean the virus transmits more easily, while only causing mild or asymptomatic disease.
In South Africa, where the mutant first arose, officials warned higher hospital admissions among children during the fourth wave of infections should prompt vigilance but not panic, will infections so far being mild.
A large number of infants admitted with Covid last month in Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes Pretoria, raised concerns the Omicron variant could pose greater risks for young children than other coronavirus variants.
Scientists have yet to confirm any link and have cautioned that other factors could be at play.
They do not yet know whether Omicron is more infectious than other variants, whether it causes more severe disease or whether it will overtake Delta as the most prevalent variant. It may take several weeks to get answers to these questions.
Cells in the lungs and in the gastrointestinal system can harbour SARS-CoV-2 and common-cold coronaviruses simultaneously, according to earlier studies.
Such co-infection sets the scene for viral recombination, a process in which two different viruses in the same host cell interact while making copies of themselves, generating new copies that have some genetic material from both ‘parents’.
WHO says no one has yet died from Omicron variant despite the new Covid strain being spotted in 38 countries
No one has died with the new super mutant Omicron Covid variant despite the strain being spotted in 38 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed.
The US and Australia became the latest countries to confirm locally transmitted cases of the variant, as Omicron infections pushed South Africa’s total cases past three million.
And India confirmed its third Omicron infection today, with cases also now spotted in Sri Lanka, South Korea and Malaysia.
The WHO warned it could take weeks to determine how infectious the variant is, whether it causes more severe illness and how effective treatments and vaccines are against it.
‘We’re going to get the answers that everybody out there needs,’ WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said.
The WHO said yesterday it had still not seen any reports of deaths related to Omicron, but the new variant’s spread has led to warnings that it could cause more than half of Europe’s Covid cases in the next few months.
The new variant could also slow global economic recovery, just as the Delta strain did, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.
‘Even before the arrival of this new variant, we were concerned that the recovery, while it continues, is losing somewhat momentum,’ she said.
‘A new variant that may spread very rapidly can dent confidence.’
This new mutation could have first occurred in a person infected with both pathogens when a version of SARS-CoV-2 picked up the genetic sequence from the other virus, Soundararajan and colleagues said in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The same genetic sequence appears many times in one of the coronaviruses that causes colds in people — known as HCoV-229E — and in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, Soundararajan said.
South Africa, where Omicron was first identified, has the world’s highest rate of HIV, which weakens the immune system and increases a person’s vulnerability to infections with common-cold viruses and other pathogens.
In that part of the world, there are many people in whom the recombination that added this ubiquitous set of genes to Omicron might have occurred, Soundararajan said.
‘We probably missed many generations of recombinations’ that occurred over time and that led to the emergence of Omicron, Soundararajan added.
More research is needed to confirm the origins of Omicron’s mutations and their effects on function and transmissibility. There are competing hypotheses that the latest variant might have spent some time evolving in an animal host.
In the meantime, Soundararajan said, the new findings underscore the importance of people getting the currently available COVID-19 vaccines.
‘You have to vaccinate to reduce the odds that other people, who are immunocompromised, will encounter the SARS-CoV-2 virus,’ Soundararajan said.
Meanwhile, a spate of hospitalisations in children in South Africa has caused concern among experts that the virus may be more infectious in younger people — although cases have been mild so far.
Ntsakisi Maluleke, a public health specialist in the Gauteng province that includes Tshwane and the biggest city Johannesburg, said that out of the 1,511 Covid-positive patients in hospitals in the province 113 were under nine years old, a greater proportion than during previous waves of infection.
‘We are comforted by clinicians’ reports that the children have mild disease,’ she said, adding health officials and scientists were investigating what was driving the increased admissions in younger ages and were hoping to provide more clarity in the coming two weeks.
Since only a small percentage of South Africa’s positive Covid tests are sent for genomic sequencing, officials do not yet know which variants the children admitted to hospital have been infected with.
Despite fears that the new strain is easily spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed no one has died with the new super mutant Omicron variant despite the strain being spotted in 38 countries.
The US and Australia became the latest countries to confirm locally transmitted cases of the variant, as Omicron infections pushed South Africa’s total cases past three million.
India confirmed its third Omicron infection yesterday, with cases also now spotted in Sri Lanka, South Korea and Malaysia.
And South Korea reported a record daily 5,352 new Covid infections and 70 deaths, while a nationwide total of nine cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday.
The WHO warned it could take weeks to determine how infectious the variant is, whether it causes more severe illness and how effective treatments and vaccines are against it.
‘We’re going to get the answers that everybody out there needs,’ WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said.
The WHO said Friday it had still not seen any reports of deaths related to Omicron, but the new variant’s spread has led to warnings that it could cause more than half of Europe’s Covid cases in the next few months.
Health Secretary Mr Javid yesterday met with the World Health Organisation’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, describing it as ‘productive’.
Elsewhere, in a letter from NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard released on Friday, it was revealed the booster booking service would be updated to reflect the reduction of the time between doses to three months ‘as soon as possible and no later than December 13’.
It said the jabs would be delivered ‘in descending age groups, with priority given to the vaccination of older adults and those in a Covid at-risk group first’.
And it confirmed that there were ‘no supply challenges’ with either Moderna or Pfizer booster stocks.
While figures showed Covid infections have increased in all four UK nations and remain close to record levels, though the latest rise is not linked to the arrival of the Omicron variant.
Around one in 60 people in private households in England had Covid in the week to 27 November, up from one in 65 the previous week, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The proportion of people in England who were estimated to have coronavirus at the peak of the second wave in early January was one in 50.
This led to a surge in hospital admissions and deaths, along with a nationwide lockdown.
However, No 10 ruled out making vaccines compulsory, as has been seen in Austria and is being considered in Germany.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister told reporters: ‘We’ve set out our policy on this and we’ve said it’s not something that we would look to introduce.
‘You’re aware of the changes we made in terms of social care settings and for NHS workers, given the importance of protecting the most vulnerable in our society.
‘But there’s no plans above and beyond that in that regard.’
He added: ‘Our priority is to continue to promote vaccinations and promote boosters now that we are rolling out more and more boosters to more and more people.
‘That is our priority, that’s our focus, and that’s what we’re asking people to come forward and take.’
Is the Omicron variant more dangerous than earlier strains and will my Covid-19 vaccines still protect me if I decide to have a quick snog under the mistletoe? Our team of experts answer the crucial questions
It has been a little over a week since scientists in Botswana and South Africa alerted the world about the emergence of a rapidly spreading new Covid variant – casting a shadow over the forthcoming festive season.
Despite gloom from some quarters about the potential risks it poses, which has seen companies scrambling to cancel Christmas parties, the Prime Minister and Health Secretary were adamant last week that the public should carry on as they have been recently.
Meanwhile, some of our European neighbours have reacted by imposing stringent travel bans, nationwide restrictions and even mandatory vaccination. Amid all this, it’s difficult to know what to make of the risks and how we should respond.
To provide some clarity, The Mail on Sunday spoke to the experts – and the prevailing attitude was that, while Omicron must be taken seriously, its emergence was not unexpected.
Of what little is known, some is concerning and some reassuring. Importantly, based on current evidence, there is no cause for panic.
Here is what you need to know.
The newly discovered Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus has caused panic across the globe, but is this fear justified? The Mail on Sunday has spoken to some of the UK’s most eminent scientists who are optimistic.
However, advice on snogging under the mistletoe this Christmas may disappoint some
Some people seem very worried about the new variant. Should I be, too?
Intense research into Omicron has only just begun, so it’s too soon to know much for certain.
So far there has been a lot of speculation ‘which isn’t helpful’, said Dr Julian Tang, a virus expert at the University of Leicester. ‘Relatively little is known about Omicron, even among scientists,’ added Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh.
The facts so far are as follows. On November 25, South African health officials announced an uptick in Covid cases linked to a new variant. Due to the large number and type of mutations, or changes, to the variant, it could be more transmissible, the scientists said – meaning it could spread faster than previous iterations.
The next day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a variant of concern, and named it Omicron – the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet – following its variant naming system.
Omicron is likely more infectious than the currently dominant Delta variant, which itself was 60 per cent more infectious than the Alpha variant which overtook the original Wuhan virus in late 2020
Millions of people such as Prue Leith, pictured here receiving her booster jab from Dr Cath Rose at the Chipping Norton Health Centre in Oxfordshire is one of the millions of people who have received additional protection against the Omicron variant
Since then it has been identified in more than 20 countries worldwide, including Britain.
On Thursday, Dr Michelle Groome of South Africa’s National Institute For Communicable Diseases said there had been an ‘exponential increase’ in infections over the past two weeks. In mid-November, the country – where just a quarter of the population have been jabbed – was seeing roughly 300 new cases per day.
Last Monday they recorded 2,858 cases. By Wednesday it was 8,561, and on Friday it was 16,055.
Based on what’s being seen there, experts say the South African scientists’ initial assessment seems correct – Omicron is likely more infectious than the currently dominant Delta variant, which itself was 60 per cent more infectious than the Alpha variant which overtook the original Wuhan virus in late 2020.
And it is this, primarily, that has caused concern.
How much more infectious is Omicron?
However, due to South Africa’s low vaccination rate it’s not possible to make direct comparisons with European countries.
‘We’d need to see more numbers before putting a figure on it,’ said Prof Woolhouse.
I have read ominous things about ‘vaccine escape’. Does this mean our jabs won’t protect us against Omicron?
The swift spread of Omicron in South Africa hints that it has some capacity to overcome existing immunity, but there is no suggestion that the vaccines will no longer be effective.
Indeed, scientists we spoke to believe the jabs will still provide an ‘incredibly strong’ protection against serious illness, which is key. And this is why the booster programme, which aims to have every adult offered a third dose by the end of January, is still vital.
The swift spread of Omicron in South Africa hints that it has some capacity to overcome existing immunity, but there is no suggestion that the vaccines will no longer be effective
What we know for certain is that a South African study published last week examined medical reports of roughly three million people with lab-confirmed Covid. It found 35,670 suspected reinfections – people who’d caught Covid a second time after having tested positive three months or more before. Based on this data, the scientists estimated Omicron was three times as likely to cause reinfection as the Delta or Alpha variants.
‘This is not overly surprising,’ said Professor Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London.
‘The large number of mutations in the spike protein [is likely to] increase the Omicron variant’s ability to bypass immunity.’
The spike protein is part of the Covid virus that allows it to bind to healthy cells – much like a key entering a lock. The outer shell of the roughly spherical viral particle is covered in them.
Most Covid vaccines, including the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca jabs, are designed to mimic the coronavirus spike protein. They work, in part, by teaching the immune system to create defensive cells called antibodies which recognise and attach to this part of the virus – stopping the key from ever entering the lock.
Scientists have long known that the more changes there are to the spike protein, the more likely it is that Covid antibodies, even in a fully vaccinated individual, will not recognise the virus, allowing it to slip past the body’s defences. In Omicron, the spike protein has 32 mutations differentiating it from previous variants, which is what has led experts to suspect that existing antibodies will be less effective in fighting it off.
How much this is the case isn’t known. This is partly because antibodies are not the only cells that the immune system develops to fight off viruses.
The Covid vaccines also trigger the creation of T-cells and B-cells – fighter cells that attack foreign invaders – and experts believe that these cells will still be able to identify the Omicron variant, neutralising it before the majority of fully vaccinated people become seriously unwell.
A similar pattern was seen with the Delta variant which arrived in the UK in March. Early lab studies suggested mutations to the spike protein would allow it to slip past many of our antibodies, and scientists estimated the jabs would be only 67 per cent effective – a massive fall from the initial 90 per cent touted by the manufacturers.
However, half a year on, experts believe protection against Delta provided by the vaccines only fell by roughly three per cent.
‘We have our T-cells and B-cells to thank for this,’ said virologist Dr Tang, ‘and I expect we’ll see the same with Omicron.
‘The majority of the vaccinated population will still be protected from the worst of the disease.’
Is it true that Omicron is causing a milder illness than previous variants?
Early signs, again from South Africa, suggest that many people who catch Omicron are experiencing only mild symptoms. However, experts have warned against making too many comparisons or forecasts at this stage.
Based on the current evidence, little is known about the severity of infection – with or without vaccination – caused by Omicron. Prof Balloux said: ‘South Africa has a low vaccination rate but a large proportion of the population has been infected during previous Covid-19 waves. The population of South Africa also tends to be fairly young, with a median age of 27.6 years [compared with 40 in the UK]. More data will be needed before we can make robust predictions about the potential threat posed by a global spread of Omicron.’
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the WHO’s Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said: ‘We have seen reports of cases with Omicron that go from mild all the way to severe. There is some indication that some the patients are presenting with mild disease, but it is early days.’
The severity of Covid illness depends on a multitude of factors, which is what makes this a particularly difficult question to untangle – and a proper answer may not come for many months
The severity of Covid illness depends on a multitude of factors, which is what makes this a particularly difficult question to untangle – and a proper answer may not come for many months.
The main concern is that, even if it’s not causing severe illness in general, Omicron could spread rapidly through the vaccinated population, increasing the chances that it will reach vulnerable people whose immune systems have not been sufficiently trained by the vaccines, or the unvaccinated.
Professor Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical expert at King’s College London, said: ‘It may be a while before we know the effect on older, more vulnerable people.’
How quickly is Omicron spreading in the UK?
At the time of going to press, there have been more than 150 cases of the Omicron variant detected in the UK, but scientists believe there are already many more that haven’t been picked up.
A cluster of cases was identified in Scotland, while individual cases have been seen in Liverpool, Norfolk and Nottingham.
However, the majority have been seen in London, including an Israeli doctor who attended a medical conference before travelling back to Tel Aviv, where he was diagnosed.
Experts say these will just be ‘the tip of the iceberg’ because roughly only one in seven PCR tests are analysed for variants.
it will likely take some time before it outpaces Delta, which is still causing nearly 50,000 new cases each day
‘We know from experience of Alpha and Delta that by the time you’ve learnt it’s here, the horse has already bolted,’ said Dr Tang. ‘Considering we have so few restrictions in place, it’s likely this virus will propagate at speed.’
However, it will likely take some time before it outpaces Delta, which is still causing nearly 50,000 new cases each day.
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia, said: ‘It’s unlikely we’ll see big Omicron numbers before January.’
Will we see more restrictions?
On Monday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that hospitalisations would be ‘what matters more than anything’ when considering further measures.
And based on what we know so far, these are unlikely to rise for some time.
The variant would have to significantly reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines before major social restrictions such as lockdowns were necessary in the UK, experts told us.
Studies show the booster jabs, which have now been given to nearly 90 per cent of Britons over the age of 70, provide an unprecedented level of protection against the virus – and even if Omicron ‘dents’ this, we’re starting from an ideal position to fight it off, said Dr David Strain, clinical Covid lead at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.
The variant would have to significantly reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines before major social restrictions such as lockdowns were necessary in the UK, experts told us
According to an Israeli study published in November, a third dose of the Pfizer jab increased protection against symptomatic infection to as much as 94 per cent.
The effect of this is already being seen in the UK, where hospitalisations are now falling – particularly in older age groups – even as Covid cases rise.
Dr Strain explained: ‘The boosters put us in a wonderful position before this new variant arrived. Omicron has dented that campaign somewhat, but if you are fully boosted you are still in an ideal position to defend against it.’
Disease modellers believe that the strength of the boosters is such that the NHS could ‘tolerate’ even a large wave of Omicron.
Prof Woolhouse said: ‘Healthcare settings could probably bear some fall-off in protection, given just how effective the boosters appear to be.
‘However, I’d like to see some numbers before I say that with certainty. Studies looking at how effective the boosters are against this variant are a priority right now.’
On November 25, the Government announced that it would temporarily ban travellers from six southern African countries, and reintroduce PCR tests for all passengers on arrival, no matter where from, to combat the spread of the variant.
And last week masks once again became mandatory in indoor public spaces, including shops and public transport.
These measures will buy the UK some time while scientists race to analyse the variant, Ministers have said.
We’ve been told that boosters are vital – but the rules keep changing. How will I know when and where to get mine?
Last week the Government announced that all adults would be offered a booster Covid vaccine three months after their second dose. It means the entire adult population will have at least been given the opportunity to have a third dose by the end of January.
On Friday, NHS England issued an update, saying the rollout would begin on December 13.
Until then, those eligible to book a booster remains as it was: only those aged 40 and over; those aged 16 and over with a health condition that puts them at high risk from Covid; and frontline health and social care workers who had their second dose more than six months ago.
These groups should already have received an invitation, via text message or email or both.
After December 13, as with the initial vaccine campaign, people will be invited in descending age order. Again, this will be in the form of text or email.
At present, if you look at the NHS Covid vaccine booking website, it states in a yellow box at the top of the page: ‘The NHS is working on plans to offer a booster dose to everyone aged 18 years old and over… Please wait to be contacted by the NHS.’
The Government recommends that people book a jab appointment or locate a walk-in service through the NHS website (go to nhs.uk, scroll down and click ‘Find out about Covid-19 vaccination’ – or Google ‘book a Covid jab’, and click on the top result, titled: Book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination).
The process is relatively straightforward and requires people to enter their name, age, and address (the nhs.uk booking form asks if you know your NHS number, however it’s not a problem if you don’t have this to hand).
Once this is done, you will be given a list of nearby clinics where you can access the booster. These might be a GP surgery, a pharmacist, a hub at a community centre, hospital or a walk-in service.
Anyone who has trouble accessing the internet can book their booster jab through their GP, but family doctors have asked that this is done as a last resort.
Dr Dean Eggitt, a Doncaster-based GP, said: ‘If you ring up your surgery for help with a booster jab, they should be able to organise it for you, but you could be waiting on the phone for quite some time so it is far speedier to do it online.’
Eligible people who are housebound will be prioritised under the new system, and should already be known to their GP, who will organise a booster to be done in the home. If you are housebound and are not sure if your GP is aware, you should contact them. Patients in hospital who have not yet had their booster will also be able to receive their shot in hospital.
In some areas, such as the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, special ‘booster buses’ have been deployed, offering jabs to eligible passers-by in different locations on each day.
Do we have enough vaccines to boost everyone?
Yes, but the real challenge will be finding enough people to administer them. According to the Government, there are enough available vaccines to offer every adult in England a top-up shot by the end of January.
To achieve this, the number of boosters administered every day will have to increase from 350,000 to 500,000.
Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that 1,500 pharmacies would begin providing boosters alongside temporary vaccine centres that will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’, as well as 400 military personnel and a ‘jabs army’ of volunteers
Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that 1,500 pharmacies would begin providing boosters alongside temporary vaccine centres that will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’, as well as 400 military personnel and a ‘jabs army’ of volunteers.
GPs will also be called on to carry out more boosters, and will be offered up to £30 per vaccine given. However, GPs have warned this will affect the level of care they can offer patients.
Dr Eggitt said the challenge was enormous: ‘If we’re expected to vaccinate on this ambitious timeline, practices will have to make the decision over what they will do less of, and that may include measures such as temporarily suspending routine health checks.’
What about Christmas? Is it really OK to carry on as planned?
Yes, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful, say experts. It is too soon to say how quickly the Omicron variant will proliferate, but based on experience with the Delta variant it will take several months before it becomes widespread.
This means the chances of catching Omicron right now are incredibly small, and that will still be so in three weeks’ time. For this reason, socialising with family is still a low-risk activity.
‘I really don’t think Christmas is anything to worry about,’ said Prof Hunter.
‘During Christmas and Boxing Day you’re actually mixing with fewer people than you do on a normal day – so if anything you’re reducing your chances of catching it during this period.’
Scientists point out that, right now, the huge presence of Delta is a bigger worry, with more than 50,000 new cases a day.
Scientists point out that, right now, the huge presence of Delta is a bigger worry, with more than 50,000 new cases a day.
Ministers have sent mixed messages, with Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey warning the public not to ‘snog’ under the mistletoe, and Mr Javid countering that ‘it’s got nothing to do with the Government who you kiss’.
He did however encourage people to take lateral flow tests before attending Christmas parties.
Prof Hunter said: ‘I think if you are older, and concerned about your health and Omicron, I would probably recommend giving crowded Christmas parties in busy bars a miss, because the number of people you will be mixing with is much larger.
‘I wouldn’t tell anyone to cancel their Christmas Day plans.’
Prof Woolhouse said: ‘There’s nothing in the data to suggest any need for a policy change before Christmas. Hospitalisations and deaths are still falling.
‘I agree that taking a lateral flow test before attending a Christmas party would be wise – we know these tests will flag up this new variant, as well as others.’
Could more jabs be needed, even after the booster?
Possibly. On Thursday it was announced that the UK had bought 114 million extra booster jabs from Pfizer and Moderna, which will be used over 2022 and 2023. Vaccine developers are already putting plans in place to adapt their current jabs to the new variant, should it be deemed dangerous, but this does not necessarily mean that new vaccines will be needed.
The technology used to create the Pfizer and Moderna jabs can be tweaked at speed to match the mutations of emerging variants. Last week Pfizer said it was investigating the Omicron variant to assess whether an ‘adjustment’ was needed. If it is, the American firm said it could develop new doses in six weeks and begin shipping in just over three months.
Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca have also said they are analysing how effective their vaccines are against Omicron. However, Ugur Sahin, chief executive and co-founder of Pfizer’s German partner BioNTech, said: ‘We think it’s likely that vaccinated people will already have substantial protection against severe disease caused by Omicron.’
Despite this, virus expert Professor Lawrence Young, at Warwick Medical School, said it would be prudent for the manufacturers to adapt future boosters to the Omicron variant whatever the result. ‘There are only so many mutations that can occur to the spike protein, and Omicron has the most we’ve seen yet by far. Any vaccine that can be adapted to match it will have a good chance at fighting off any future variants too.’
There seem to be more questions than answers. When will we know more?
Experts say it could be months before we have a clearer understanding of Omicron.
Scientists around the world are currently analysing the variant. Blood samples taken from people either previously infected with the virus or fully vaccinated against it will be exposed to Omicron, to see how the two interact. Primarily, they will be looking at how effective existing Covid antibodies are at neutralising the new variant. Even then, laboratory tests can only work out how much protection prior immunity provides. They do not tell us much about the severity of disease.
Professor Penny Ward, a pharmaceutical expert at King’s College London, said: ‘The only way we can know how many people will end up in hospital or dead as a result of the variant is through real-world data involving people.’
This means the more people who catch the virus the clearer the picture will become. Last week, Professor Wendy Barclay, a virologist at Imperial College London, said: ‘It will take several weeks if not a few months before we have clearer answers.’
Will this blasted pandemic never end?
Government scientific advisers warned Ministers that Covid would be a threat to the NHS ‘for at least a further five years’, according to documents released on Friday.
After that, the scientists – members of the Government’s virus modelling group Spi-M – said it was likely the virus would settle into a ‘predictable endemic state’ – where the virus continues to circulate in the population but does not threaten to overwhelm the health service.
The Government have already bought two more years’ worth of vaccine supply, for annual boosters in 2022 and 2023
The Government have already bought two more years’ worth of vaccine supply, for annual boosters in 2022 and 2023.
‘After Omicron there will be another variant, and another after that,’ said Prof Woolhouse.
Scientists make the comparison with Russian Flu, a pandemic that occurred in the 1890s killing around one million people. Modern studies suggest that Russian Flu was a form of coronavirus called OC43, similar in structure to the one that causes Covid. Professor Young said: ‘The Russian Flu pandemic went on for roughly four years and then petered out. I’d expect us to see a similar pattern.’
However, Prof Woolhouse did have some hope: ‘The majority of deaths from Russian Flu happened in the first two years. Based on that, and the strength of our vaccines, I’m confident the worst of this pandemic is behind us.’
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