The number of new Omicron cases in Lincolnshire are rising fast.
Boris Johnson who made a TV appearance yesterday to highlight the seriousness of the new Omicron variant has resulted in more people booking their booster jabs. Now, with news that more Omicron cases have been found in Lincolnshire, the Director of Public Health at Lincolnshire Council wants as many people as possible to get vaccinated.
Over the past seven days the number of Omicron cases in Lincolnshire has jumped from four to 51. It is believed that this number is a drop in the option and new cases will continue to be reported.
Professor Derek Ward, Director of Public Health at Lincolnshire County Council, told BBC Radio Lincolnshire this morning (December 13) that there are two officially reported Omicron cases in the county and overall cases in Lincolnshire had increased from four to 51.
He said: “So I’ve been notified formally of two, just two cases, two confirmed Omicron cases but we’ve got to remember that’s only those cases that have already happened that have already had a PCR test and that have been genotyped by a specialist lab to say ‘yes this is definitely Omicron.
“We’re using something else that gives us an indication of what sort of figures we’re seeing, which is something called S-gene target failure. I think we probably spoke about it about a year ago with the Alpha variant. We had an indicator which was different to the original variant, and it looks like Omicron is similar in this.
“It has one little bit of virus that doesn’t show up in the tests, so we use it as an indicator. We use that as an indicator for Omicron. The seven days up until the fourth, we’d had four cases, and the seven days up until 10th that I’ve just got the data for we’ve had 51.
“So, we’ve gone from four to 51 cases in Lincolnshire over those seven days.
“When you think that Omicron seems to double every two to three days, I expect it to be the dominant variant in Lincolnshire pretty soon, and they are just the cases that we know about.”
Although Boris Johnson has brought forward the timescale people can get the booster vaccination, and also now allowing those over 18 to now receive the booster jab, many believe he is not doing enough.
Since the announcement that people should now book their booster jab the online booking system continues to crash. This means that those who want to get their booster jab cannot make an appointment.
One of the biggest complaints people have with Boris Johnson handling of the new variant is confusing information. Some people have come forward and have said Boris Johnson has left people confused on what they should and should not be doing.
Since Boris Johnson made the announcement yesterday and told the general public to get the booster jab, he failed to mention the vulnerable people.
Many believe that Boris Johnson has once again ignored the vulnerable people and is putting millions of those people at risk. It is hoped that in the coming days that Boris Johnson may make things clearer and provide instructions for those people who previously were asked to self-isolate.
For those people struggling to get an appointment through the online booking system, there are open door vaccination centres in Lincolnshire.
Those living in Lincolnshire including Skegness, Boston, Louth, Gainsborough, Grantham, Lincoln and the rest of the Lincolnshire are being encouraged to come forward and get vaccinated and use the open door vaccination centres. They are listed here https://in2town.co.uk/lincoln-news/open-door-lincolnshire-vaccination-centres-announced/