(CMR) Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at least one patient had been confirmed to have died with the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Britain.
“Sadly, yes, Omicron is producing hospitalizations and, sadly, at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron,” Johnson, who was visiting a vaccination clinic on Monday, said.
“So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that’s something we need to set on one side and just recognize the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters.”
Omicron now represents about 40% of coronavirus cases in London.
“The risk is plainly there, we can see Omicron spiking now in London and some other parts of the country,” Johnson said.
Health secretary Sajid Javid had said there were “about 10” people with Omicron in hospital in England.
“There is always a lag between infection and then hospitalization and then, sadly, death,” he told Sky News
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said UK’s first Omicron death underlines the seriousness of the situation.
On Sunday, Johnson announced an acceleration of the booster program, making it open to all adults to give third jabs to one million people a day.
However, on Monday, government plans received two severe blows when the NHS booking site for boosters crashed, and the government ran out of free lateral flow COVID-19 home tests.
Fully vaccinated contacts of someone with coronavirus have been told to take a rapid lateral flow test every day for seven days as of Tuesday.
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