At least one patient infected with the novel omicron strain of Covid-19 has died in the United Kingdom, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“Sadly yes, omicron is producing hospitalizations and sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with omicron,” Johnson told reporters on a visit to a vaccination clinic near Paddington, London, according to Sky News.
“So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that’s something we need to set on one side and just recognize the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters.” he said.
Sajid Javid, the UK’s health secretary, told the BBC earlier on Monday that ten patients were in hospital after contracting the omicron variant. Omicron was spreading at a “phenomenal rate,” according to Javid, with cases doubling every several days.
It comes after a study published on Monday by the University of Oxford indicated that two doses of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine were significantly less efficient at preventing omicron infection than prior coronavirus versions.
