Ministers are “concerned” that the number of over-50s being admitted to hospital with COVID is rising, the education secretary has said.
Despite the increasing numbers, Nadhim Zahawi became the second minister in two days to tell Sky News that coronavirus data does not currently suggest further restrictions are needed in England this week ahead of a review on measures on Wednesday.
The education minister’s assurance today, following cabinet minister Stephen Barclay’s confidence on Sunday, follows warnings from NHS leaders about an intensifying “health emergency” as COVID admissions rise.
On Sunday evening a hospital trust in Lincolnshire declared a critical incident due to “significant staffing pressures due to absence related to COVID-19”.
Data does not support more restrictions this week thanks to plan B, cabinet minister says
Mr Zahawi told Sky News that hospital numbers would continue to be monitored: “The numbers of people in hospital with coronavirus have begun to rise in the over-50s, which we are concerned about, but on the whole, actually the number of people in ICU [intensive care] has come down, which is good news.”
He added: “If we see more leakage of infection in the over-50s – because most of the surge in infections from the Omicron variant has been in the under-50s – then that is more likely that those people end up with severe infection and hospitalisation.
“But the good news is obviously that 90% of those people over 50 have had the booster jab – that is the real protection against severe infection and hospitalisation.
“So, at the moment there’s nothing in the data to suggest we need to go further but of course, we will look at the Wednesday review and then beyond that keep monitoring the data very carefully.”
The latest data publicly available from the Office for…
Source : skynews
