MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

COVID-19 cases soar among British children

Javid hopes individual action will suffice to avoid upping the alarms to either Plan B or Plan C

New COVID-19 cases seem to be on the rise in England, according to the latest UK Health Security Agency (HSA) report, which showed a total of 1,366.8 cases per 100,000 people aged 10 to 19 were recorded between Oct. 10 and 17, against 1,134.9 the previous week.

Meanwhile, the rate for five to nine-year-olds was 719.2, up wow from 585.0. These figures are the highest weekly rate since October 2020.

Case rates are continuing to rise in all age groups in England as well as in other parts of the United Kingdom. The lowest rate is among people aged 80 and over, at 121.2, up from 115.6. South-west England has the highest rate, with 667.6 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to October 17, up from 327.1. London has the lowest rate at 253.0, up from 220.5.

The East Midlands has the second highest rate at 494.0, down from 496.7 – the only region to record a week-on-week drop.

While the rate of Covid-19 hospital admissions in England stood at 7.2 per 100,000 people in the week to October 17, medicval facilities in Wales have urged people to consider looking after sick relatives themselves in view of the 'unprecedented' demand, with ambulances queuing up at the front door, stopping paramedics from attending other emergencies.

Welsh health authorities argue that spending as little time in hospital as possible is better for patients, protecting them from hospital-acquired infections.

In the face of the new sanitary scenario, Health Secretary Sajid Javid Wednesday warned Britons to still wear a mask when meeting others indoors or in crowded places to keep the coronavirus at bay. He added people should consider taking lateral flow tests before seeing friends and family at Christmas parties.

Javid also warned that if measures are not properly taken, the Government might need to make face masks mandatory in some settings. “After the decisive steps that we’ve taken this year, none of us want to go backwards now,” Javid explained and insisted on the importance of “getting the jab when the time comes – whether it’s for Covid-19 or flu.”