The National Health Service said there were now over 20,000 people in English hospitals, more than at the peak of the pandemic in April. A growing body of research supports the concern that the new virus variant may be more than 50% more contagious than the already rapidly spreading ones in widespread circulation. People walk outside of St Thomas' Hospital in London where people received a vaccine for COVID-19 on Dec. 8, 2020. Facing record case and hospital numbers and a threatening variant strain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure to shut schools and reimpose national restrictions, measures he once decried. Since the summer, the government has prioritised keeping students in classrooms, even in areas that saw major outbreaks and during the country’s second national lockdown in November.

Source: bd News24 December 29, 2020 20:48 UTC