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CORONAVIRUS

new
Chris Smyth, Whitehall Editor
Monday March 21 2022, 12.00pm GMT, The Times
Sajid Javid said it was time to treat the virus in the same way as all
other infectious diseases
Sajid Javid said it was time to treat the virus in the same way as all
other infectious diseases
WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
People who think they have Covid should “socialise a bit less”, the
health secretary has said as he dismissed concerns about a rise in
hospital admissions.
Sajid Javid said it was time to treat the virus in the same way as “all
other infectious diseases” and suggested there was no particular need
for people to pay for a test once lateral flow kits were no longer free.
Covid infection rates in the elderly are at their highest level but
Javid insisted the recent rise in cases was “no particular cause for concern”.
With fourth Covid jabs for the over-75s beginning today, Javid said that
all over-50s were likely to be offered a booster in the autumn as
ministers pin their faith on vaccines rather than social distancing rules. Confirmed cases rose 38 per cent last week and the Office for National Statistics found that among over-70s infections are now at their highest
ever level, with rates in the elderly traditionally the best predictor
of hospital admissions.
However, Javid said that of the 11,500 people in hospital in England
with Covid “almost 60 per cent are not there because of Covid — they are there for something else. That might be a hip operation or something,
but they happen to be Covid-positive.”
He told Times Radio: “That does give us a lot of confidence that we are learning to live with Covid.”
Lateral flow tests will stop being free on April 1 for all but the most vulnerable. The government has not specified who will be eligible or
what the advice will be for others with Covid symptoms.
Javid said: “Post-April 1, if people have Covid symptoms then they
should just behave sensibly — like you would expect someone to really
behave if they had flu symptoms in the past — and that is to socialise a
bit less, stay indoors and wait till you feel better.”
Asked if people should still get tested, even if they have to pay for
it, Javid said that would be “a decision for that individual”.
He said that paying “something like £2” for a test from a high street pharmacist would remain an option for those who wanted to be tested.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Javid said that “when it comes
to someone that may be having to take time off work or socialising less
because they believe they might be positive, that is handled in the same
way that all other infectious diseases are handled.”
Asked if Covid was now in the same category as other infections, Javid
replied: “That’s right.”
He attributed the recent rise in cases to increased social mixing after
all restrictions were lifted as well as the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.
He said the subvariant was “on the one hand more infectious but on the
other hand, we know that our vaccines work just as well against this subvariant. And so taking all that into account, of course we keep the
data under review, but there’s no particular cause for concern at this point.”
Professor Graham Medley, who chaired the modelling committee of the
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies before it was stood down,
said: “There is another wave of infections, in which, for the first
time, we are seeing older people being infected at the same rate as
younger people.
“We have seen previous peaks of prevalence from ONS [infection survey]
at over 8 per cent previously, and the prevalence in the 70-plus age
group is currently less than 5 per cent. This suggests that there is considerable scope for further increases leading to hospital admissions.” Medley said that “there remains great uncertainty as to how high
admissions will peak in an epidemic with high vaccination coverage,
reduced access to testing and reduced self-isolation”.
A health source defended ministers’ approach, saying: “It’s not just the politicians, but the senior clinicians. We have asked them whether we
should be worried and they don’t think so… We are keeping an eye on it
but most [admissions are] incidental at the moment, and when you look at
number of people on ventilation it remains very low.”

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