Omicron chaos in Great Britain: trains fail, supermarkets empty, rubbish not picked up

Created: 01/04/2022Updated: 01/04/2022, 6:55 PM

From: Richard Strobl

People stand outside Good Health Pharmacy in North London to get a booster Corona vaccination.

© Gareth Fuller / dpa

The new Omikron variant is rolling over Great Britain and causing chaotic conditions in the country.

That could still be ahead of Germany.

London - Even before Christmas, experts in Germany had warned that the Omikron variant of the corona virus could also lead to supply problems in Germany.

Exactly this scenario already applies in Great Britain.

Omikron wall hits Great Britain: massive staff shortages are already paralyzing the country in some cases

On Monday, almost 160,000 new infections with the corona virus were reported in England and Scotland alone, but due to the holidays, the numbers are patchy and the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.

The seven-day incidence was last at 1526 (as of December 29).

According to

, one million Brits are currently in quarantine at home because of the Omikron variant.

In addition, according to the national health system NHS, ten percent are currently already registered as sick.

These failures can therefore be felt in almost all areas of life.

Accordingly, the shelves are emptying again in many supermarkets.

This is once again due to delivery problems that Great Britain was affected by after Brexit.

Long queues form at the cash registers due to a lack of staff, and the shelves are

, especially for milk, bread and fruit - according to the

.

According to the report, a first large chain is already thinking about closing some markets entirely.

Omikron in Great Britain: trains fail, supermarkets empty, rubbish is not picked up

In addition, rail connections must already be canceled.

According to the Rail Delivery Group, one in ten train employees is currently reported sick.

And garbage disposal already has massive problems.

The garbage cans are overcrowded across the country, according to the report, as pickup has been postponed for up to a week after the Christmas holidays.

Old Christmas trees and holiday rubbish are piled up on the streets of Birmingham.

“It's a nightmare (...).

It's like living in a slum, ”a local resident is quoted as saying.

Overflowing rubbish bins waiting to be picked up by garbage collectors on Cherry Street in the Walton borough of Liverpool.

© Peter Byrne / dpa

Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to keep the schools open.

They opened again on Tuesday.

The school principals previously expected massive staff shortages here as well.

Omikron in Great Britain: Disaster in several clinics

The situation is apparently even worse in the hospitals.

Several British clinics have declared a disaster due to blatant staff shortages in connection with the Omikron variant.

At least six hospital foundations, some of which include several clinics, have already decided to take this step in view of the violent corona wave, as the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Hospitals declare a disaster when those responsible are of the opinion that they can no longer guarantee necessary treatments

According to the BBC, the head of the NHS Confederation, which brings together national health service organizations, Matthew Taylor wrote in a post that “we are currently in a state of crisis in many parts of the health system”.

In some hospitals, employees are already being asked to give up days off so that operations can continue.

Omicron Chaos in Great Britain: Is that still to come Germany?

After all: The number of occupied hospital beds is apparently only half as high as a year ago. According to Health Minister Maggi Throup, this proves how the vaccine and the booster campaign work.

The situation could be an outlook on what is to come in Germany.

After all, expert council member Stefan Sternberg had just emphasized that Germany would be almost two weeks behind most countries in terms of the spread of the Omikron variant.

Boris Johnson has so far steadfastly refused to lower the quarantine times for the new Omikron variant.

Several countries, such as France and Italy, had already taken this step.

This is how you want to avoid a supply collapse.

Söder called this debate the key question for the Prime Minister's Conference in Germany on Friday.