DARE WE HOPE? WORST OF COVID IS 'HISTORY'
Daily Express|December 29, 2021
Experts back PM's light-touch virus rules as vaccines bring down death rates | Covid won't be a severe disease for much longer
Sam Lister
DARE WE HOPE? WORST OF COVID IS 'HISTORY'

THE worst of Covid is finally over as jabs reduce deaths, scientists believe.

They back Boris Johnson's light-touch rules and say that mass fatalities and hospitalisations from the virus are over.

Virology expert Sir John Bell backed the Government's decision not to impose fresh Covid restrictions in England before the start of the new year.

The Regius Professor of medicine at Oxford University, who helped drive the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said the inoculation programme had helped bring down death rates.

He added: "The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago - intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely that is now history in my view and I think we should be reassured that that's likely to continue."

Sir John said the public had been “pretty responsible" in the response to the spread of the Omicron virus variant, adding that the Government's judgment about "where we should go in the next few days is probably fine.

“There are a lot of people who are aware that we are in the face of this large wave of disease.

"The behaviour of people in the UK, in England in particular, has been pretty responsible in terms of trying not to go out and spending a lot of time exposing yourself to the virus. You look at the people on the streets, the roads are quiet, all that stuff. I think that's likely to continue for the next week as we see how this thing evolves."

Health minister Gillian Keegan advised revellers in England to have fun celebrating the New Year but said: "Just be cautious but do try to enjoy yourself as well."

This story is from the December 29, 2021 edition of Daily Express.

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This story is from the December 29, 2021 edition of Daily Express.

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