UK under siege from Covi-19

LONDON — An explosion of coro­navirus cases in the United Kingdom is causing staff absences for hospitals, businesses and London transport ser­vices.

New figures published yester­day showed that absenteeism in the National Health Service had risen sig­nificantly in recent days.

On Dec. 19, nearly 19 000 NHS staff at hospitals across England were absent from work due to coronavirus-related reasons, according to NHS England.

These figures were up 54 percent from the previous week. In London, where omicron is the dominant variant, staff absences in the NHS were up 60 percent during that same period.

The numbers reflect the high levels of coronavirus infections in the country. On Wednesday, the U.K. reported more than 100 000 new daily cases — an all-time high.

Other countries are also concerned about absenteeism as a result of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

France’s scientific council warned that such shortages could destabilise the food logistics, security, energy, public transport, communication and health sectors.

Meanwhile, transport officials in London closed a subway line begin­ning yesterday and extending to early January after reporting that around 500 “non-office based” staff are either ill with covid-19 or in quarantine.

A spokesman for Transport for Lon­don said that it decided to shut the Lon­don Underground’s Waterloo & City line to redeploy staff to the Central line, which is busier.

Other sectors are worried, too. Britain’s Education Department has called on ex-teachers to return to the classroom in the new year amid fears of looming shortages.

The British government hopes that shortening its covid-19 quarantine period will help minimise disruption. On Wednesday, officials announced that people in England who test posi­tive for the coronavirus can end their quarantine at seven days, instead of 10 days, if they test negative twice.

“Covid-19 is spreading quickly among the population and the pace at which omicron is transmitting may pose a risk to running our critical public services during winter,” said Jenny Har­ries, chief executive of the U.K. Health Security Agency. “This new guidance will help break chains of transmission and minimise the impact on lives and livelihoods.” Annabelle Timsit in Lon­don contributed to this report. — CNN