UK Covid alert level downgraded as hospital pressure eases
The UK’s Covid alert level has been downgraded, after officials said the NHS is no longer at immediate risk of being overwhelmed.
The UK was placed under the highest alert level last month, after the Joint Biosecurity Centre found there was “a risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed”.
However, Britain has now moved from alert level five to level four, meaning transmission is still “high or rising exponentially”.
In a statement, the UK’s chief medical officers said: “The health services across the four nations remain under significant pressure with a high number of patients in hospital, however thanks to the efforts of public we are now seeing numbers consistently declining.”
The decision applies to all four nations of the UK, even though public health services are run separately across the devolved nations.
Hospitalisations have continued to decline over recent weeks, as the UK continues to feel the effects of current lockdown restrictions.
More than 4,500 people were admitted to hospital with Covid on 12 January, marking the highest daily jump since the start of pandemic.
Daily hospital admissions have since fallen to an average of around 1,500, though the number of people in hospital with coronavirus still remains at about 83 per cent of the peak of the first wave.
“We should be under no illusions — transmission rates, hospital pressures and deaths are still very high,” the chief medical officers warned this afternoon.
“In time, the vaccines will have a major impact and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated when they receive the offer. However, for the time being it is really important that we all — vaccinated or not — remain vigilant and continue to follow the guidelines.”