“It’s Over”: An Oxford Scientist’s Optimistic Prognosis for a Pandemic | John Bell, Immunologist and Professor of Medicine

John Bell, an immunologist and professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, sure that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is behind and that the new Omicron variant “seems to be less serious” than the previous one.

According to Bell, Vaccination campaign dramatically changes the course of the pandemic, as if hospitalizations increased as the Omicron variant spread across the population, illness “seems to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital”.

The University of Oxford professor told the BBC that the patient needs less oxygen and the average length of stay was reduced to three days.

“The horrific scenes we saw a year ago with a lot of people dying prematurely are now history from my point of view and I think we have to believe that it is likely to continue,” he said.

No new limits

Also, Bell supports the UK Government’s decision not to impose further restrictions until the New Year, although other scientists have criticized the “hesitance” in the face of this new wave of cases.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that anyone who can work from home should do so, extending the mandatory nature of masks to the most closed public places since Friday and enforcing the granting of vaccination passports to access nightclubs or massive shows, among other measures. other prevention.

However, as infections increase in the UK The lack of health workers is starting to be noticed: It is estimated that in London alone the number of health workers in public hospitals is reduced by 40 percent.

Meanwhile, British Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, ruled out on Monday that there will be more changes in the current restriction configuration, as the Government awaits more evidence on the impact of the new variant on healthcare.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, meanwhile, introduced new social distancing rules, closed nightclubs and limited the number of people at gatherings.

UK records another 321,036 coronavirus cases over Christmas period, as the latest official statistics show.

Data from the NHS (UK public health system) released on Monday showed that there were 113,628 additional cases in the UK on Christmas Day, another 108,893 on Sunday the 26th and 98,515 in the last 24 hours.

Matt Thompson

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