LONDON: At least one person has died with the omicron variant in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday as he urged Britons to quickly increase their protection with a booster shot.
It was the first reported fatality in the country tied to the new variant. Britain — among the countries worst hit by the global health crisis — is believed to be the first government to officially announce a death from the virus mutation.
On a visit to a vaccination centre in west London, Boris Johnson said Omicron accounted for about 40 per cent of the cases in the British capital, and hospital admissions were rising. “Sadly, at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron,” he told reporters.
Johnson said people needed to recognise “the sheer pace at which [Omicron] accelerates through the population” and added that they should set aside the idea Omicron was a milder variant.
Britain on Sunday sounded the alarm by raising the national Covid Alert Level because of high levels and rising rates of transmission. In a rare televised address, Johnson said emergency measures were needed to prevent hospitals becoming overwhelmed in the weeks ahead.
All adults will now be able to receive a third dose of a Covid vaccine by the end of December after the government brought forward its deadline by one month. However, in a sign of huge demand, the National Health Service (NHS) vaccination booking site crashed and users requesting rapid testing kits were told they were out of stock.
The “turbocharged” booster programme has seen military planners asked to set up and run extra vaccination centres around the clock. Some 500,000 booster jabs were given on Saturday but to hit the new deadline that number will have to be doubled every day for the remainder of the year to slow the spread.
