Professor Christina Pagel, director of the Clinical Operational Research Unit has warned that it is "too late" to prevent a winter surge of hospitalisations and that under current Plan B measures, projections are for hospital admissions to exceed that of the last peak in January 2021. In a tweet, Professor Pagel said: "Under current Plan B measures, projections are for hospital admissions to exceed last Jan peak - and potentially quite a bit higher. Also that it's too late now to prevent those outcomes." Professor Graham Medley, who leads Sage’s pandemic modelling group has said that while studies have shown Omicron to be milder than Delta, it is uncertain whether this will limit hospital admissions among the elderly. He said: "The evidence of lower severity of Omicron infections compared to Delta largely comes from infections in younger people,” he said. “As the Omicron virus starts to move into older people in the UK, that reduction might not continue.” His fears were echoed by Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at UKHSA who said that rising cases in the over 60s meant that it was “highly likely that there will be significant pressure on the NHS in coming weeks”.

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