UK COVID-19 death toll exceeds 150,000 after Omicron surge

Britain's cumulative death toll is the second-highest in absolute terms in Europe, behind only Russia's.

Reuters

January 09, 2022 / 09:48 IST

A man walks through a quiet City of London, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, December 21, 2021. (Image: Reuters)

The United Kingdom's official death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic rose above 150,000 on Saturday, government figures showed, following a record wave of cases caused by the Omicron variant.

Some 313 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test were reported on Saturday, taking the total number of fatalities on this measure to 150,057.

A broader but less timely measure of deaths with COVID-19 on the death certificate - which includes deaths early in the pandemic when testing was limited - stood at 173,248 as of the last data on Dec. 24.

"Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll on our country and today the number of deaths recorded has reached 150,000," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement. "Our way out of this pandemic is for everyone to get their booster or their first or second dose if they haven't yet."

Britain has seen a surge of cases linked to the Omicron coronavirus variant in recent weeks, though death rates have been lower than during previous infection waves.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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