Liverpool is set to see a "sharp spike" in coronavirus cases in January, putting the NHS under a lot of pressure according to the city’s public health director.
At today’s meeting of Liverpool Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board, Professor Matt Ashton gave a strong warning about the threat Omicron presents to the NHS in the city.
Liverpool’s public health boss said that although Omicron only accounted for 9-10% of Covid-19 cases in the city, a lower rate than in London and the South East, this rate will go up.
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He added: “The reality is, we are going to see a sharp spike in covid cases [which is likely to be] at the start of January, which will put a lot of pressure on the whole [healthcare] system.”
But Mr Ashton said the difference between this year and last winter is the vaccine, adding that the booster jab is estimated to provide 71-75% protection against symptomatic infection.
Covid-19 cases in Liverpool are rising. In the seven days up to December 11, Liverpool recorded 2,361 infections at a rate of 472 per 100,000.
That is a rise of 13% on the 2,091 cases seen in the previous week at the rate of 418 per 100,000.
While calling for people in the city to get their booster jab as soon as possible, the public health director said people should also get tested regularly, minimise unnecessary social contact, use face coverings, ensure rooms are well ventilated and adopt good hand hygiene.
Mr Ashton said the pandemic has not gone away yet and people should look out for their friends, family and loved ones at this difficult time.
Clare Morgan, director of strategy at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust, said Covid-19 hospital admissions in Liverpool are “quite static” at the moment, but we will see what happens over the coming weeks.
This is an important point given that the spike in cases we are seeing nationally may take a few weeks to translate into more hospitalisations.
Despite the current numbers in hospital with Covid-19, Ms Morgan added that she is working with colleagues on a daily basis to assess the situation.
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