North East sees 'concerning' rise in Omicron covid variant, says expert - these are the worst-hit areas
and live on Freeview channel 276
Figures showed that three of the five UK areas with the biggest week-on-week rises in Covid case rates are Middlesbrough (748.8 to 2,651.4), Copeland (1,731.3 to 3,525.8) and Redcar & Cleveland (846.8 to 2,564.3).
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) highlighted these regions, along with the Midlands, as areas of concern.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe said cases in London are "slowing down", but scientists need two weeks to see if this continues.
Dr Tildesley told Times Radio on Saturday: "Most other parts of the country are about two to three weeks behind where London is in their epidemic profile.
"Particularly concerning is the North East and the North West - if you look at hospital admissions in those two regions they are going up, also the Midlands, where I live, that's also a little bit concerning, so it is a worry.
"On the slightly more positive side, so it doesn't sound all doom and gloom, what we are seeing from hospital admissions is that stays in hospital do appear to be on average shorter, which is good news, symptoms appear to be a little bit milder, so this is what we are seeing consistently with the Omicron variant."
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdDr Tildesley added that Omicron is possibly the "first ray of light" in ensuring Covid-19 becomes endemic and easier to live with, similar to the common cold.
He said: "The thing that might happen in the future is you may see the emergence of a new variant that is less severe, and ultimately, in the long term, what happens is Covid becomes endemic and you have a less severe version. It's very similar to the common cold that we've lived with for many years.
"We're not quite there yet, but possibly Omicron is the first ray of light there that suggests that may happen in the longer term. It is, of course, much more transmissible than Delta was, which is concerning, but much less severe.
"Hopefully, as we move more towards the spring and we see the back of Omicron, we can get more inter-relationship of living with Covid as an endemic disease and protecting the vulnerable.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"Any variant that does emerge which is less severe, ultimately, in the longer term, is where we want to be."
It comes as as the armed forces have stepped in to fill a staffing crisis in the NHS caused by the rapid spread of the variant.
NHS England data shows 39,142 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on January 2, up 59% on the previous week (24,632) and more than three times the number at the start of December (12,508).
According to the Health Service Journal (HSJ), staff absences across the entire NHS, including mental health trusts and other areas, for any reason including Covid-19, may be as high as 120,000.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIn total, there are around 9,300 armed forces available on standby.