The Omicron variant is well on its way to overwhelming the NHS with cases multiplying exponentially by the minute. The following is a list of the ten places in England currently displaying the highest number of Omicron cases.
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Top 10 Omicron hotpots in England
- West Northamptonshire, East Midlands
- Croydon, London
- Hackney, London
- Lambeth, London
- Newham, London
- Brent, London
- Buckinghamshire, South East
- Greenwich, London
- Lewisham, London
- Wandsworth, London
'Infections could exceed one million'
As it stands currently, London is at the epicentre of the outbreak, but experts fear that this could very soon trickle into every other part of the UK. As a result of mass infection concerns, the UK government has since decided to apply more severe measures to contain the outbreaks as much as possible.
Though the virus has been found to not be as deadly as the Delta variant was, it is more transmissible than its predecessor. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has since urged the public to remain as vigilant as possible and follow restrictions to avoid having to revert to even harsher social distancing measures. In a statement, he said:
Although there are only 568 confirmed Omicron cases in the UK we know that the actual number of infections will be significantly higher.
And added:
The UK health security agency estimates that the number of infections are approximately 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases, and so the current number of infections is probably closer to 10,000.
UKHSA also estimate that at the current observed doubling rate of between two and a half and three days, by the end of this month, infections could exceed 1 million.
