More than 13,000 NHS hospital beds are already occupied by Covid-positive patients as a government minister says restrictions could be introduced if NHS backlogs are threatened by Covid.
The latest NHS figures show beds occupied by Covid patients rose from 10,658 the Monday before.
Speaking during a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Kamal, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care, said that if the situation “gets to the point where it affects the backlog, then they may be clear measures are needed to be introduced’.
The latest official figures show an estimated 2.7 million people in private households had Covid-19 in the past week, up 18 percent from 2.3 million the previous week.
Lord Kamal’s remarks came as health authorities in Europe recommended offering a second booster shot to over-60s in response to the new “widespread wave”.
Last week, The Independent reported how staff absence levels were increasing in NHS trusts amid rising levels of infection in the community. The number of infections has prompted an entire NHS region to reintroduce mask wearing in hospitals and GP practices.
Senior NHS officials told The Independent that their hospitals came close to canceling scheduled operations last week because of absences.
Meanwhile, according to reports in the Health Service Journal, NHS leaders may now also look to soften targets to reduce the backlog of operations.
In an update on Monday, the European Center for Disease Control recommended that second booster shots be considered for people aged 60 to 79 and those at high risk of severe disease.
Dr Andrea Amon, director of the European Center for Disease Control, said: “We are currently seeing increasing levels of notification of Covid cases and an increasing trend in hospital and ICU admissions and employment in several countries, mainly driven by the BA subline 5 of Omicron.
“This signals the beginning of a new, widespread Covid wave in the European Union. There are still too many people at risk of severe Covid infection that we need to protect as soon as possible. We need to remind people about the importance of vaccination from the first shot to the second booster. We have to start today.”
On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Moderna also reported that its new Omicron-specific vaccine booster showed better antibody responses to the current BA.4 and BA.5 variants that are fueling the latest Covid wave.
The report comes as the UK awaits a decision from the government’s Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee on an autumn round of Covid booster shots.
Professor Beate Kampmann, professor of pediatric infection and immunity and director of the vaccine center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “With Omicron variants BA.4 and 5 now causing most Sars-CoV-2 infections in Europe and USA, development and approval of variant-adapted Covid booster vaccines is advanced. It was always a given that the first generation of these vaccines would require modifications, but unfortunately we are always one step behind the evolution of the virus. Ultimately, we need to get to a space where models can predict what will happen next so we can get ahead of the curve.
“Who needs a booster when is also a bit of a moving target, as we now face a combination of community immunity and personal protection induced by vaccines or natural infection, and most likely both.”
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