Recording 98 Thousand COVID-19 Cases A Day, The UK Government Ensures No New Restrictions Until The End Of The Year

Illustration of a COVID-19 test center in the UK. (Wikimedia Commons/Auledas)

JAKARTA - Britain will not impose new COVID-19 restrictions until the end of the year, Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Monday, as the government awaits more evidence on whether health services can cope with the high infection rate.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to reject the new measures, which would not be popular within his own party, even though Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all adopted the new rules.

Although partial figures reported by the government on Monday showed 98,515 new cases of COVID-19 in the UK, Minister Javid said ministers would not take any new steps to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the coming days.

Once data for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are added to the UK figures, it is likely to show cases for Great Britain as a whole just slightly below the December 24 peak of 122,186.

"There will be no further action before the new year," Minister Javid told reporters, citing Reuters Dec. 28.

"As we enter the new year, of course we will see if we need to take further action."

He said the highly contagious variant of Omicron now accounts for around 90 per cent of cases across the UK, urging people to celebrate the New Year with caution.

Government attention is focused on the number of patients hospitalized with the Omicron variant, after data early last week showed the variant carries a lower risk of treatment.

The latest data showed the number of patients in UK hospitals with COVID-19 was the highest since March, reaching 8,474, but far from the peak of more than 34,000 in January.

A combination of factors, including the UK's vaccination programme, the lag between infection and hospitalization and the effect of the potentially less harmful Omicron variant have all been put forward by health experts as possible explanations for the lower figure.

Nevertheless, the UK has reported a total of 148,003 deaths in the 28 days after testing positive for COVID-19, and 12.2 million testing positive during the pandemic so far.

With Britain's state-funded healthcare system already stretched, any sign of admission numbers threatening to overwhelm hospitals could lead to the reintroduction of rules that limit people's freedom to socialize.

"We will closely monitor what happens at the hospital. We should take action in the future, of course we will not hesitate to do it," said Javid.

It is important to note that UK hospitals have warned that staff absences due to COVID-19 could jeopardize patient safety. Many industries and transport networks are also struggling with labor shortages.