Hospital chiefs Anxiety and belief in ability to handle surge

How much of a threat does the emergence of Omicron pose to the NHS? Among hospital bosses there is a curious combination of apprehension that the new variant could lead to a surge in infections but also a battle-weary belief, borne of negotiating the previous waves, that they can handle a potentially major spike in people left seriously ill with Covid.

- Denis Campbell

“[NHS] trusts are already making contingency plans for what would happen if there were to be a significant spread of this variant and it turned out that the symptoms and disease produced as a result is as serious as with the Delta variant,” said Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts in England.

He added: “If it turns out that this variant does evade vaccines then clearly the NHS will see a significantly higher caseload than it has at the moment.” H opson pointed out that, at the second wave’s worst in January, hospitals in England were treating 34,000 people with Covid. Yesterday, it was far, far fewer – just 6,094.