COVID: London declares “big event” over Omicron deployment Coronavirus pandemic News

Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” in the UK capital as a result of the rise in COVID-19 cases.

A “big event” has been declared in London amid “concern” over the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant throughout the capital.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Saturday he was “extremely concerned” about the absence of firefighters and police personnel in vital public services, including the NHS. rapidly growing cases.

A statement from a major incident will allow authorities to work together and help each other reduce the disruption to the service and give them more time to deliver booster jabs, the mayor said.

“The rise in Omicron variant cases in our capital is extremely worrying, so once again we are declaring a major event because of the threat that COVID-19 has in our city,” Khan said.

“The Omicron variant has quickly become dominant, cases are growing rapidly and the number of patients with COVID-19 in our hospitals is growing again.

“We are already feeling the impact on the capital and while we are still learning about this variant, it is right that the major London agencies work together to minimize the impact on our city, including helping to support the vital vaccination program.”

Georgia Gould, President of the London Council, said: “The rapid deployment of Omicron is a major concern in our city.

“Local councils have taken a step forward and been instrumental in helping their communities through the pandemic. I know they will continue with these efforts, but we cannot do that alone.”

Khan called on people to be encouraged and stressed that “it is never too late” for those who have not even received the first dose of the vaccine.

Omicron is now the leading variant of coronavirus in London, and figures released by the UK Health Security Agency on Saturday show that 83.4% of a sample of detectable cases in the capital on 15 and 16 December had S gene failure (SGTF). ), A way to detect the likely presence of Omicron.

The number of people in COVID-19 hospital in London, which has seen one of the highest increases in cases in the last seven days, rose to 1,534, 28.6 per cent more than last week, according to government data on Friday.

The number of Omicron cases in the UK jumped to almost 25,000, and the number of deaths reported among people so far has risen to seven, according to British health authorities.

Meanwhile, 90,418 COVID cases were reported daily in the UK on Saturday after record times.