UK could be the first country to roll out pandemic, says expert

Despite the criticism faced by the UK over its reluctance to impose restrictions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and its variant called Omicron, the UK would be one of the first counties to curtail the pandemic and come out of its group, claimed by one of its leading scientists.

While speaking about the impact of Covid-19 and its contagious variant called Omicron, leading public health official Professor David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine cited,” The UK is far much closer to any country for being out of the coronavirus pandemic of it is not out of the pandemic and having the disease as endemic”.

“Every country is making an effort to boost the immunity of their population to contain the pandemic as the strong immunity will help out to protect serious illness and deaths”.

Heymann, speaking at an online seminar hosted by think tank Chatham House on Monday, noted the latest figures on the immunity of the UK population, which represent that 95 percent of the population in England contains antibodies against the viral infection, either with the vaccination or natural infection. He further added that majority of people who are staying in intensive care units were unvaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK was one of the first countries worst hit by the new infection strain, but have not imposed any tough restrictions even in the Christmas and New Year festive occasion, after which they have faced huge criticism.

Omicron was firstly discovered in South Africa in late November and now it has spread rapidly to around 149 countries.

World Health Organisation has considered it a variant of concern, and it is anticipated that it could undermine the vaccines against the deadly viral infection. It has been discovered that there is a high number of mutations in the contagious strain of Covid-19 called Omicron.

Moreover, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also urged people to get fully immunised and recommended that people should learn to live with the virus.

Further, hospitals around UK and Europe are operating on a very large scale, and the hospitalisation of patients stands at a low level as compared to the time when the pandemic and its waves hit our country.