UK makes Omicron contingency plans for hospitals, schools

The U.K. government has been making contingency plans in case hospitals, schools and other workplaces are hit by major staff shortages amid the country’s record-breaking spike in coronavirus infections.

Public sector workplaces have been preparing for staff absences ranging from 10 per cent to 25per cent as COVID-19 sickens more people or forces them to isolate, the Cabinet Office said.

The highly transmissible omicron variant has caused Britain’s daily new caseload to soar over Christmas and the New Year, with a new daily high of 189,000 on Dec. 31. A further 137,583 infections and 73 deaths were added for England and Wales only on Sunday, with numbers for Scotland and Northern Ireland to be announced after the holiday weekend.

About 1 in 25 people in England or about 2 million people had COVID-19 in the week before Christmas, the Office of National Statistics estimated. In London, the figure was 1 in 15.

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