Dr English pleaded with the Government to put more “drastic measures” in place in a bid to defeat the “extremely transmissible” Omicron variant which he says will invariably lead to a spike in hospitalisations in the foreseeable future. The Communicable disease expert confirmed South African data which revealed that Omicron is “milder” than Alpha and Delta but warned that it eclipses its more fatal predecessors when it comes to how rapidly it spreads throughout the population. Officials have been mulling proposals for a new lockdown after the total number of infected people climbed to a shocking 24,968 cases yesterday despite the fact that over 26 million people received their third jab in the UK.

       Dr English echoed that tougher rules are urgently required because the overwhelmed NHS is already “on its knees” with prospects looking bleaker by the day.

       He also warned that if cases keep mounting, there is a real risk that patients with cancer, strokes, and heart attacks may be neglected in hospitals and potentially be deprived of life-saving interventions.

       TalkRADIO presenter Cristo Foufas picked up on data from South Africa he came across which suggests that the virus was “more transmissible” but also “more mild” and not resulting in “many deaths”.

       He feared that the UK is being brainwashed into believing how serious Omicron really is.

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       Dr English acknowledged that the Omicron mortality rates may never equal or surpass its Delta equivalents but picked up on the fact that it travels twice as fast.

       He said: “It’s extremely transmissible and we are seeing doubling times of less than two days, which is incredibly fast.

       “It means it’s extremely infectious.

       “Even if it is a bit milder and Chris Whitty was extremely reluctant to give any weight to that.

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       “Even if it is a bit milder, the fact that we have so many cases means that we will have a lot of serious cases as it’s transmitting so quickly.

       “The NHS is already on its knees.

       “If you want people with cancer to get treated, you want people with heart attacks and with strokes to get treated we cannot afford to overwhelm the NHS with Covid cases.

       “And that’s what’s going to happen unless we take drastic action."

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       Sajid Javid revealed that merely 10% of the entire British population isn’t jabbed.

       But despite the encouraging record and anti-vaxxers' inclination to change their minds on the positive effects of the vaccine, Mr English concluded that the current restrictions are no longer adequate as he forced the government into revisiting its plans.

       He said: “We need drastic action, and quickly, because hospitalisations will go up! It’s a case of how far they will go up.”