Have the Brits defeated Corona? Despite Omikron and WInter – Brits continue to remain calm

It is not only in Germany that the number of infections has skyrocketed, but also in other European countries. Now the number of infections in the UK is similar to that in Germany. But despite this, British politicians remain surprisingly calm. Has the virus already been defeated there?

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Instead of great worries in view of the current situation, it had even been announced in Great Britain that they would be the first country to have defeated the pandemic. This statement had just been made by British Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi to the tabloid Daily Mail. The British newspaper then ran a triumphant headline about the end of the pandemic, accompanied by photos of empty Christmas markets in Germany and Austria. Pictures of protests against Corona measures from Belgium had also been published. In the UK, there have been few restrictions on Corona measures for months. Since the so-called “Freedom Day” on July 19, 2021, the British have maintained this line.

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In recent days, however, new infections on the British island have again hovered between 30,000 to 50,000 new infections a day. Still, the British government thinks nothing of reintroducing tougher measures. Instead, the booster vaccinations are now also being used there. Since this Monday, people between the ages of 40 and 49 are being asked to have a booster vaccination if their second vaccination against Covid-19 was at least 6 months ago. According to the British Health Minister Javid Savid, this is to keep the infections under control. Praising the UK’s own booster programme, Javid said it was now making a “big difference”: “It is the most successful in the whole of Europe. 15 million in the UK have been vaccinated. 25 per cent of all over 12 have been vaccinated for the third time,” the health minister said, citing impressive figures. However, independent experts doubt that this is the sole explanation for the British success. Beate Kampmann, Professor of Child Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vaccination Centre at the London Tropical Institute, believes that the higher rate of infections in England is one of the reasons for the controlled situation. Because through the infections one also makes a step on the way to herd immunity.

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However, the British are also still far from a victory against Covid-19. Currently, between 600 and 1,000 patients have to be admitted to hospitals every day right now. In addition, 100 to 200 people in England continue to die of Covid-19 every day, Kampmann confirmed, making it clear that the British have not defeated the virus either. Most recently, the burden of the Corona pandemic on the National Health Service (NHS) was discussed there again. And Kampmann has already recognised the first consequences. As in Germany, surgeries there are being postponed and treatments delayed to deal with the flood of Covid 19 patients. “And that’s where we’re going to see some very bad consequences,” Kampmann fears of these conditions coming to a head. The British government has just made several billion pounds available for the state health system. But above all, there is currently a lack of trained personnel. This is also a situation that is very familiar in Germany.