With Christmas at stake, countries are attentive to the omicron

With the Christmas At stake, governments around the world are on the lookout for the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Britain’s leading nurses union warned that fatigue and increased cases of coronavirus among staff members it is pushing them to the limit, adding pressure on the government to impose new restrictions to lower the record numbers of omicron-driven infections.

The warning highlights the unpleasant decision that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces: spoiling the Christmas plans of millions of people for the second year in a row, or facing a possible spate of coronavirus cases and further disruptions.

Many governments in Europe and the United States face similar dilemmas about how hard they are going to fight the omicron variant, which appears to be more contagious than the previous delta variant, which caused spikes in cases in many parts of the world.

Early tests indicate that omicron might also cause a less serious illness, although scientists report that it is still too early to tell. It is also not known whether the new mutation is capable of evading the protection offered by current vaccines against COVID-19.

Although it causes mild symptoms, the new variant could still overwhelm healthcare systems with the number of infections. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Britain have risen by 50% in a week, as omicron overtakes delta as the dominant variant.

Patricia Marquis, England director of the Royal College of Nursing union, said the situation in the coming weeks looks “very bleak” as a growing number of absences due to illness and isolations hit hospitals, which were already struggling. to resolve a backlog of postponed procedures and address common winter illnesses along with coronavirus cases.

“In many places they are already under an immense amount of stress and pressure, so they are beginning to be infected with COVID, but there is also mental and physical fatigue,” he told the BBC. “So the staff look forward thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s next?’

The British Medical Association has warned that nearly 50,000 doctors, nurses and other National Health Service staff in England could be sick with COVID-19 by Christmas, unless further restrictions are put in place.

Yet many political leaders are reluctant to impose tough measures they have previously implemented to fight the pandemic, often because they promised people that vaccines would offer an alternative to those restrictions and because it might be politically unsustainable to reimpose them.