UK opens up boosters to over 30s to fight Omicron

There is no reported death from the variant in the UK yet, but experts warn that it is set to take over from Delta as the dominant coronavirus variant by the end of this year

Britain’s health authorities said on Sunday that bookings for the Covid booster vaccines for everyone aged 30 and over in England will be open from Monday, as one of the key actions aimed at tackling the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in the country.

There are around 7.5 million people aged 30 to 39, and 3.5 million of those are eligible for boosters from Monday, NHS England said. It comes as early analysis shows booster jabs being effective against the Omicron variant, the first cases of which have started being hospitalised now. There is no reported death from the variant in the UK yet, but experts warn that it is set to take over from Delta as the dominant coronavirus variant by the end of this year.

“The Covid-19 booster programme is accelerating rapidly and more than 22 million people in the UK have already received their top-up, securing vital protection ahead of Christmas,” said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid. “This is our national mission – the most recent data shows boosters are the essential defence against Omicron and we are doing everything in our power to get jabs into arms as quickly as possible. We are now expanding the offer to over-30s – so please come forward as quickly as possible to get boosted and help our country get ahead in this race with the variant,” he said.

Another 633 Omicron cases identified in the UK

Another 633 Omicron cases have been confirmed in the UK, the biggest daily increase since the variant was detected in the country, taking the total cases found in the country to 1,898, the UK health authorities have said. Experts are warning Omicron could cause between 25,000 to 75,000 deaths in England by the end of April if no extra measures are brought in, Xinhua news  reports.

Austria lockdown ends for the jabbed

Austria ended lockdown restrictions for vaccinated people across most of the country on Sunday, three weeks after reimposing it to combat a rising wave of infections.

6,17,469
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

26,78,65,289
Total no. of cases worldwide

52,85,888
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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