Britain Reports World’s First Confirmed Death From Mutated Omicron Variant

By Yehudit Garmaise

 

At least one person in England has died with the Omicron variant, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this morning, as he urged Britons to quickly increase their protection with booster shots.

 “We can see Omicron spiking now in London and in some other parts of the country,” Johnson said at a vaccination clinic in West London.

 Although in London, Omicron now represents 40% of the cases, by tomorrow, Prime Minister Johnson said, Omicron will be the source of the majority of cases COVID cases, “and it is increasing the whole time.”

 “Sadly, Omicron is producing hospitalizations, and now one patient has been confirmed to have died from Omicron,” said the British prime minister who debunked “the idea that this is someone a milder version of the virus.” We need to “recognize the sheer pace at which this virus accelerates through the population.

 “The best thing we all can do is get our boosters,” which Johnson said that Britain was trying to provide to all residents 18 and older by New Year’s Day: a deadline that is a month earlier than a previous deadline he had set.

 Officials in England and Scotland say that Omicron cases are doubling every two to three days, which is a much faster rate of the spread of the virus than it has in South Africa, where the first reports of the Omicron variant emerged.

 Johnson did not provide any further information about the vaccination status, age, and underlying conditions of the British patient who died from the Omicron virus.

 “A tidal wave of Omicron is coming,” Johnson warned. “And I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of the vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.”

 Currently, 10 patients who are infected with the Omicron variant, are hospitalized across England. The majority of those patients, who are aged 18 to 85, received two vaccination shots.

 The Omicron variant will overtake the now dominant Delta strain “within days, not weeks,” said Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland.

 In Denmark, as well, on its current trajectory, Omicron could become dominant by “the end of next week,” said Mads Albertsen, a professor at Aalborg University.

Photo: Flickr