Government to consider new Covid curbs if NHS backlog is threatened

European health authorities call for new booster jab to fight ‘widespread’ Covid wave, writes Rebecca Thomas

Passenger on the London Underground wears a surgical mask (Getty Images)

More than 13,000 NHS hospital beds are now taken up by positive Covid patients as a goverment minister says curbs may be introduced if the NHS backlog is threatened by Covid.

The latest NHS data shows beds occupied by Covid patients are up from 10,658 on the Monday prior.

Speaking during a House of Lords debate, Lord Kamal, parliamentary under-secretary of state for innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care, said if the situation ”gets to a point where it is affecting the backlog then clearly measures may well have to be introduced”.

Latest official data shows that 2.7 million people in private households are estimated to have had Covid-19 in the past week, up 18 per cent from 2.3 million the previous week.

Lord Kamal’s remarks come as health authorities in Europe have recommended a second booster jab is offered to the over-60s in response to the new “widespread wave”.

Last week The Independent reported how the level of staff absences is increasing across NHS trusts amid soaring community infection rates. The number of infections prompted a whole NHS region to reintroduce mask-wearing in hospitals and GP practices.

Senior NHS staff told The Independent their hospitals were close to having to cancel planned surgeries last week due to absences.

Meanwhile, according to reports in the Health Service Journal, NHS leaders may now also seek to water down targets to reduce the surgery backlog.

In an update on Monday, the European Centre for Disease Control recommended second booster jabs be considered for people between 60 and 79 years and those at high risk of severe disease.

Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Control, said: “We are currently seeing increasing Covid case notification rates and an increasing trend in hospital and intensive care unit admissions and occupancy in several countries mainly driven by the BA 5 sublineage of Omicron.

“This signals the start of a new, widespread Covid wave across the European Union. There are still too many individuals at risk of severe Covid infection whom we need to protect as soon as possible. We need to remind people of the importance of vaccination from the very first shot to the second booster. We have to start today.”

On Monday, pharma giant Moderna also reported its new Omicron-specific vaccine booster showed better antibody responses to the current variants BA.4 and BA.5 which are driving the latest Covid wave.

The report comes as the UK awaits a decision from the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations on an autumn Covid booster jab round.

Professor Beate Kampmann, a professor of paediatric infection and immunity and director of the vaccine centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “With the Omicron variants BA.4 and 5 now causing most Sars-CoV-2 infections in Europe and the USA, the development and approval of variant-adapted Covid vaccines for boosters is well on the way.  It was always a given that the first generation of these vaccines would require modifications, however, unfortunately we are always a step behind the virus evolution.  We ultimately need to get to a space where models might predict what happens next, so we can get ahead of the curve.

“Who needs a booster when is a bit of a moving target too, as we are now facing a mix of community immunity and personal protection induced by vaccines or natural infection and most likely both.”