By Coronavirus pandemic to see 7.9m hospitalised in the UK
As we reported last night, a leaked Public Health England document intended for senior NHS officials has revealed that the UK’s coronavirus pandemic is expected to last until next spring, and could see 7.9 million people being hospitalised.
It is the first time that officials tackling the virus have admitted that they expect it to circulate for 12 more months, and to put a huge extra strain on an already overstretched NHS, which is already struggling with high demand.
It confirms that officials are expecting as many as 80% of Britons to become infected with the coronavirus during that period.
Professor Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, previously described that figure as the worst-case scenario and suggested that the real number would turn out to be less than that. However, the briefing makes clear that four in five of the population are now expected to contract coronavirus.
The document says:
“As many as 80% of the population are expected to be infected with Covid-19 in the next 12 months, and up to 15% (7.9 million people) may require hospitalisation.”
But, many feel that any admission that the virus might continue to cause problems for another year undermines hopes that the arrival of warmer weather this summer would kill it, in the same way that it affects seasonal flu.
In a live press conference, The World Health Organisation urged all countries to test all potential cases in order to control the spread.
They have said that their simple message is “test, test, test.”
Despite this, testing in the UK is being reserved for the seriously ill, and those who are already hospitalised. The NHS are no longer testing people in the community.
As such, the current number of confirmed cases in the UK is 1543, but is in fact expected to be several thousand more.
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