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The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, with a record 53,135 positive tests announced Tuesday. This is on top of the previous record of 41,385 new cases announced Monday, meaning there have been nearly 100,000 cases in the first two days of this week.
Another 414 people were reported to have died. In the week ending December 29, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in England alone rose from 18,063 to 21,787. The main area of increase was in London, which saw a 44 percent increase from 1,552 COVID patients to 2,237.
The figures bring the number of deaths measured by the government to 71,567. The true figure is substantially higher, approaching 90,000. Yesterday, the statistical associations of England and Wales produced figures showing that there were 87,000 deaths in which COVID was mentioned on the death certificate. The numbers will rise as Scotland and Northern Ireland have yet to release death data for the period from December 24-28.
The terrible death toll is the result of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s policy of herd immunity against murderers of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In addition to during the national blockade of a few months, since the end of March, the government has allowed the virus to spread through the population. The new strain circulating in Britain since September is accelerating a catastrophic resurgence of the virus. Now it is present on all continents.
Sir Simon Stevens, Executive Director of the National Health Service (NHS), said yesterday: “We are now back in the eye of the storm with a second wave of coronavirus sweeping through Europe and indeed this country.”
By Monday, there were more people hospitalized in England (20,426) than the 18,974 patients registered on April 12 at the height of the first wave.
Hospitals are overwhelmed with a number to declare emergencies. The situation in London is the most acute. The London Ambulance Service had one of its “busiest days” on December 26, with 7,918 calls, more than 2,500 more than last year. On Sunday an internal incident was declared at Queen Elizabeth Hospital for fear of an oxygen shortage. The hospital was forced to divert patients to other hospitals in the city.
According to a Sky News reporter at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, patients were being treated in ambulances yesterday “because they didn’t have enough beds left, that’s how bad the situation is.” the Daily mirror reported: “Some boards of health are considering the option of setting up tents outside hospitals to classify patients, as they work in ‘major incident mode’.”
Rising infections threaten to overwhelm a vaccine launch that is taking place at a snail’s pace. Currently, only 600,000 people have received the vaccine. Administration of the required second dose, which is only distributed to people with the highest priority, began yesterday.
A preliminary study of the “estimated transmissibility and severity of the new variant” in England, conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warns: “In the absence of a substantial deployment of vaccines, cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths in 2021 they may exceed those of 2020. “
It says: “The most stringent intervention scenario with level 4 across England and schools closed during January and 2 million people vaccinated per week, is the only scenario that we consider to reduce the maximum ICU load below the levels. observed during the first wave “.
The government has attached great importance to the AstraZeneca vaccine from the University of Oxford, of which it has ordered 100 million doses. The virus is expected to receive approval for use in Britain soon. But even if this were available, at the current rate of vaccination, most people will remain unprotected. Dr Bharat Pankhania, Senior Clinical Professor at the University of Exeter, said: “It will still take around 50 weeks to immunize 50 million people,” requiring a 24-hour deployment. The population of the United Kingdom is 66 million.
After decades of insufficient funding cuts and “efficiency savings,” the NHS is understaffed for such an effort. According to NHS hospitals, mental health services and community providers, there is a shortage of 87,000 employees.
In the spring, the government was forced to build seven “Nightingale” field hospitals. It was revealed yesterday that in the absence of personnel to execute them, they have largely withdrawn. the Telegraph reported, “The hospital in London’s EXCEL center is understood to have been completely dismantled, with beds and ventilators removed.”
The crisis has escalated so rapidly that it is speculated that Johnson may have to subject much of England to the highest Level 4 restrictions in the next few days and even implement a “Level 5” level of restrictions yet to be defined. Level 5 may reportedly involve the closure of schools and universities.
But Johnson is coming under pressure from the most rapacious sections of the ruling elite to oppose such closures, which will require parents to be at home to care for their children rather than in profit-making workplaces for corporations. the Daily mailThe headline on the cover yesterday shouted: “Don’t betray our children.” Sun He quoted a Conservative MP as saying: “The opinion of the majority of Conservative MPs is that schools should remain open. It is the health people who are saying ‘my God, the hospitals will be full’. We know that open schools increase the R rate. The question is, is it a price that we are willing to pay and in my opinion it should be ”.
Johnson has refused to close schools and the new term will begin next week. He only agreed to a slight delay in the reopening of high schools, which will still see all students back in classrooms by January 18.
Once again, the government is rejecting the scientific guidance of its own advisers. the Telegraph reported that the “Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) told the Prime Minister that infections could spiral out of control unless secondary schools were closed until the end of January.”
The reopening is being pushed on the grounds that schools will be safe as children will be screened. This is a lie, especially considering the fact that only high school students will be tested. Millions of primary school children and responsible educators of all age groups will not be tested. To reopen according to the government’s proposed schedule, all high schools would require 5.5 million students to be tested in just one week.
There are no qualified personnel available for such an enormous and safety critical task. The government announced on Tuesday that 1,500 military personnel “are on standby to help England’s secondary schools and universities implement COVID-19 testing for students and staff when the new term begins in January.” Soldiers in the classroom take the increasing militarization of society to a dangerous new stage.
None of this would be possible without the backing of the Labor Party and the education unions, which have only asked for a two-week delay in returning to classrooms to allow for testing. In an interview with the guardian , Mary Bousted, Deputy Secretary General of the National Education Union (NEU), stated: “Our concern is that today they do not make the right decision and do what they have done throughout the pandemic, which is to make an ideological decision online and recover the schools before the testing program can be properly implemented. “
NEU refuses to mobilize its more than half a million members to fight back-to-school herding of millions of students and staff. the guardian He said of Bousted’s position, “While industrial action is not an option, he said the NEU would strongly recommend to members that they have the legal right to work in a safe environment.”
The Educators Rank and File Security Committee, initiated by the Socialist Equality Party, will hold a coordination meeting on January 3 to plan the actions necessary to close schools and campuses. To get involved email us at [email protected]. We will hold a public online forum on January 9 at 2pm. We call on all educators, parents, students, and pupils to register to participate and distribute the link to this meeting as widely as possible.
