The uptake of Covid booster jabs could be too slow to keep hospitals from overcrowding this winter, with experts warning that cases will rise by 30 per cent.
One month after the booster program, only half of eligible people over the age of 80 have received a third dose, although they are at increased risk. NHS The figures suggest. Of the 2.2 million people who had a second jab more than six months ago, less than 1.2 million had a booster.
The number of people aged 65 to 84 hospitalized has increased by 19 percent in the past week, with an 8 percent increase in those over 85.
Yesterday the UK recorded a 30% weekly increase of coronavirus cases to 45,140 within 28 days of testing positive – the highest total since July – but a nearly two-thirds drop in deaths from 148 to 57 within a week.
In Scotland, where mask rules are still in place, cases per capita are high, despite strict restrictions.
It comes after test operations at Immensa Health Clinic Ltd’s laboratory in Wolverhampton, which primarily served the Southwest, were suspended due to faulty tests.
Health officials revealed that 43,000 people in south west England may have been wrongly told they do not have the coronavirus because of problems processing PCR test results in a laboratory.
The Health Protection Agency said a laboratory in Wolverhampton was suspended from processing swabs after a false negative report. The faulty results are among the tests processed at the Immensa Health Clinic lab between early September and this week.
The issue was highlighted after some people tested positive for COVID-19, when they tested rapidly, showed up as negative on more accurate PCR tests.
Cases in the Southwest have now doubled in a span of four days – from 2,334 reported on October 9 to 5,681 on October 12.
And it comes amid fears that Britain will begin to see a potential lack of protection against Covid in people who received their vaccines sooner than it did in Israel earlier this year.
Cases in the Southwest have now doubled in a span of four days – from 2,334 reported on October 9 to 5,681 on October 12.
Yesterday, 45,140 cases of corona virus were reported in Britain, taking the total number of infected people to 8,449.165.
The number of Covid deaths in the UK yesterday stood at 57, down 61 per cent from last Sunday
A real-world study that came out in August found that protection fell from 88 percent in one month to 74 percent in five to six months after two Pfizer shots.
AstraZeneca – which Britain adopted early in the fight against Covid – fell from 77% to 67% in four to five months, BBC informed of.
Employees of Immensa Health Clinic in Wolverhampton were filmed fighting each other in January – at the height of the first wave and when the country was under strict lockdown.
A local authority, West Berkshire Council, has told people who were tested at the government-run Newbury Showground site between October 3 and 12 were negative to test again.
Britain conducts about 1 million coronavirus tests a day and has reported nearly 40,000 new infections a day in the past week.
UKHSA chief executive Dr Jenny Harris said it was likely that only a few thousand of the 43,000 affected were still infectious.
He said it is ‘not yet clear’ what went wrong with the private lab, adding that it was ‘recognized by all appropriate standards’.
NHS Test and Trace estimates that around 400,000 samples have been processed through the laboratory, but new samples are now being redirected to other laboratories.
Test and Trace is contacting people who may still be infectious so that they can be advised to take another test, while close contacts who are symptomatic will also be advised to get tested, as already is recommended.
Teenagers now make up the lion’s share of infections under the age of 20. Because cases continue to rise, the number of new infections among under-20s in absolute terms is not far from doubling since early September, rising from about 9,000 to nearly 15,500.
The contract shows the government awarded a £119 million contract to Immensa in October 2020 to ‘develop quantities commensurate with test and trace requirements for PCR testing for Covid.
The contract did not go to tender under rules allowing an immediate response to the pandemic.
Immensa was awarded a further £50 million by the government in a contract last September.
Immensa was incorporated as a company in the UK in May 2020.
According to the Immensa website, the firm was new to Covid testing. It said: ‘In 2020, we optimized and evolved into Covid testing, leveraging our laboratory network, scientific expertise and digital systems to deliver world-leading Covid-19 testing solutions.’
Andrea Riposati, chief executive of Immensa, said: ‘We are cooperating fully with UKHSA on this matter.
‘Quality is paramount to us. We have proudly analyzed over 2.5 million samples for NHS Test and Trace, working closely with the great teams from the Department of Health and UKHSA.
‘We don’t want this case or anything else to tarnish the wonderful work Britain has done in this pandemic.’
NHS figures show that in one month of the programme, only half of eligible people over the age of 80 have received a third dose.
Along with immunization of children aged 12 to 15 years, boosters have become an integral part of the government’s winter plan.
Data from the Zo Covid study shows that the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing serious illness drops from 74 to 67 percent after six months.
Azeem Majeed, professor of primary care at Imperial College London, said it was inevitable that people would lose some enthusiasm for Jobs, telling the Sunday Times: ‘There was always going to be a drop-off between doses. It is likely that some people who have received a second dose will not receive a third dose. They just aren’t interested.
‘People were initially told that two doses are enough. They were in lockdown, and the vaccine was their ticket. There is very little incentive now.’
Duncan Robertson of the University of Warwick said delays in administering jabs would have to be ‘immediately resolved’ to avoid unnecessary pressure on the NHS.
“There are booster vaccines to prevent hospitalization and ultimately save lives,” he said. ‘Delay matters.’ In England, about 25 million people over the age of 50 and vulnerable adults will be eligible for a booster by the end of the winter.
However, at the current rate of 175,000 a day, boosters in their early 50s may not have had boosters until mid-February – about eight months after most were double-pocketed.
Eligible people are urged to book appointments online or by calling 119.
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