Record high death toll, insufficient oxygen supply in hospitals, darkest weeks of the epidemic are approaching – British Prime Minister Johnson said that Britain is “racing against time” to advance its coronavirus vaccination plan as the new mutant coronavirus spreads rapidly, Reuters reported on the 11th. Row.
According to the report, one in 20 people in parts of London has contracted the novel coronavirus. On Monday, the UK added 46,169 confirmed cases and 529 deaths from COVID-19.
On the same day, 4,193 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, bringing the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the UK to a record 32,294.
As of the early morning of the 13th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases and deaths in the United Kingdom exceeded 82,000, ranking fifth in the world in terms of confirmed cases and deaths. With hospitals overcrowded, the NHS is in danger of collapse. Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, previously warned that “the next few weeks will be the worst of the pandemic in terms of the number of people treated in the NHS.”
To control the epidemic, 10 Downing Street is stepping up the largest vaccination program in Britain’s history.
According to the vaccination plan released on the 11th, the British government will set up more than 2,700 vaccination sites nationwide, and has mobilized more than 80,000 medical staff to assist in vaccination and related work.
By mid-next month, it is expected that about 15 million people will be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, by the end of January, the UK government will provide 2 million doses of vaccines to vaccination centers every week, with the goal of vaccinating tens of millions of people before spring and all adults by autumn. The United Kingdom has currently approved the use of three vaccines.
To date, nearly 2.3 million people in the UK have been vaccinated with the first dose and nearly 400,000 people have been vaccinated with the second dose, according to statistics.
The Guardian quoted sources as saying that the government is considering further strengthening epidemic prevention measures, including requiring people to wear masks outdoors and prohibiting people from walking or exercising with people other than their families.
Several UK unions have urged government officials to stress the need to work from home, as data show that the number of people in London taking the subway is more than three times higher than at the time of the first lockdown.
Some retailers want police to assist stores in enforcing the mask-wearing rule for shopping. However, several law enforcement sources said that it was impossible for the police to supervise supermarkets.
