UK medical chiefs are seeing a major drop in COVID deaths in early 2021

The arrival of a vaccine is expected to see coronavirus deaths in Britain drop “significantly” early next year, but social mixing over Christmas could cause another spike sooner than that, medical chiefs said Friday. of the United Kingdom.

Britain gave emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday and will start the world’s first launch next week.

“We believe it likely that by spring the effects of vaccination will begin to be felt in significantly reducing COVID hospitalizations, attendances and deaths, but there are several weeks to go to that stage,” the UK’s chief medical officers. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said.

But the country’s health leaders warned that the vaccine’s spread will have “only a marginal impact in reducing the number of those entering the health service with COVID over the next three months.”

Delivering vaccines “safely, quickly and in a sequence that will most likely reduce mortality” will also be “a very considerable logistical exercise,” they added.

The letter to health workers said they should prepare for increased pressure on the system after Christmas, with social mixing rules loosened over the holiday period to allow three families to meet.

“The social mixing that occurs around Christmas could put further pressure on hospitals and general medicine in the new year and we need to be ready for it,” the CMOs said.

Britain has recorded more than 60,000 deaths of those who test positive for the virus, the worst toll in Europe.

While the daily death toll remains high, cases have declined in recent days and medical heads said the number of hospitals “is likely to decline in the coming weeks” in most parts of the country.

Looking to the longer term, they said the coronavirus is not expected to completely disappear, but will be “substantially less important as a cause of mortality and morbidity”.

The letter was signed by CMO for England Chris Whitty, his Scottish counterpart Gregor Smith, Frank Atherton in Wales and Michael McBride from Northern Ireland.

© 2020 AFP