When the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 was identified a few weeks ago I was concerned that the potential return of restrictions would be damaging for local businesses, cause further disruption to our children’s education and take a further toll on the mental health of those who struggled with previous lockdowns.
I was therefore pleased that the Prime Minister did not reimpose significant new restrictions before Christmas and has watched the data carefully before reaching for further lockdown. This was a bold move and not the route followed by the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Although our approach in England is the opposite of a year ago when we locked down as cases rose, the situation is very different as rising case numbers are not yet converting at the same rate for other variants into more people becoming seriously ill. For example, there are roughly the same number of patients on ventilators in England now as there were in early September despite there being about seven times more cases now as there were then. Several factors explain this, including the high levels of vaccine take-up, past infections in the population and the nature of Omicron which appears milder than previous variants. We also have treatments now that we didn’t have 12 months ago.
Providing this pattern continues – that the number of people becoming seriously ill does not rise significantly – I am hopeful we can avoid the return of restrictions that our local economy and local communities here in Central Devon would clearly be far better off without. This does not mean, however, that we will avoid any further pain before things get better. A small proportion of those who catch Omicron will still become ill, with those who have declined a vaccine most at risk. We also face disruption to our public services as key workers need to isolate. But there is cause for optimism. Evidence suggests that the parts of London which experienced a surge in Omicron cases two or three weeks ago have peaked and are now in decline. And these have been in boroughs where vaccination rates have been around 60% so our constituency at around 90% should present a far tougher wall of immunity for the virus to penetrate.
The UK, of course, is not the only country to be under siege from Omicron and I am proud that the Government recently pledged up to £105 million of emergency aid to help vulnerable countries with a particular focus on Africa. Our support will improve testing capabilities, improve access to oxygen supplies for ventilators, help educate communities about basic hygiene and improve access to handwashing facilities. We will also deploy emergency teams overseas to crisis hotspots. This international support builds upon the £1.3 billion in aid we committed to the international health response early on in the pandemic, supporting vaccines, health systems and economic recovery in developing countries.
More from Mel at www.melstridemp.com.