British Minister of Health Sajid Javid said on Saturday that new restrictions would only intervene "
as a last resort
" in England despite a surge of Omicron cases, believing that it was necessary to learn to "
live with
" the coronavirus .
Read also Omicron danger: this reassuring news that comes to us from Great Britain
The United Kingdom, one of the most affected countries with more than 148,600 deaths from the pandemic, records contamination records every day (more than 189,000 in 24 hours on Friday).
Hospitalizations are also on the rise, even if the authorities stress for the moment that the Omicron variant seems to cause less severe forms than the Delta.
"A much stronger position"
"
The number (of people) in intensive care units is stable and does not for the moment follow the trajectory that we saw last year during this period during the Alpha wave
," Sajid Javid said in a published column in the
Daily Mail
.
With the country in "
a much stronger position
" thanks to a massive vaccine booster campaign, the government decided not to impose new restrictions during the holidays in England, he continued, unlike Scotland, in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Read also United Kingdom: a vaccine dyke facing the "Omicron tidal wave"
"
The restrictions on our freedom should only intervene as a last resort,
" Sajid Javid added in the tabloid.
Stressing "
the enormous health, social and economic cost of confinements
", he felt that it was necessary to give oneself the means to "
live with the virus
" through vaccination, an arsenal of treatments and massive screening.
The minister however acknowledged that the health service would be “
inevitably
” under pressure in the coming weeks because of a “
sharp increase
” in hospitalizations.
The
Daily Telegraph,
however, indicated on Saturday that the government could extend the recommendation for teleworking, in effect since mid-December, to January.
