in omicron infections so far. but there s still uncertainty about how many people may need hospital care, and how much pressure will be on the nhs. here s our health correspondent, katharine da costa. at vaccine centres around the uk, including this one in grimsby, the race is on to get even more jabs into arms and boost our defences against what may become the biggest wave of covid infections we ve seen so far. it s more worrying, i think, because we don t know exactly what s going to happen, so it s betterjust to be safe. ijust want to protect people as well that i m going to be in contact with. the new variant omicron is spreading fast, doubling every 2.5 days. new modelling has looked at what that might mean for hospital admissions and deaths in england under plan b with greater use of masks and working from home. it s early work, but researchers say further measures may be needed. what we do know is that very
opposed to it but they will back the government now on that irrespective of any conservative rebellion, that will pass, that will happen. we will pass, that will happen. no sur - rise will pass, that will happen. no surprise that the government were going to do this, they saw this as the obvious legislative opportunity to get it all out of the way in one go. to get it all out of the way in one no. , ~ to get it all out of the way in one no. , ~ ., ,., to get it all out of the way in one go. they were keen for some time on the idea of was go. they were keen for some time on the idea of nhs staff go. they were keen for some time on the idea of nhs staff having - go. they were keen for some time on the idea of nhs staff having to - go. they were keen for some time on the idea of nhs staff having to get i the idea of nhs staff having to get a vaccine, plenty in government and beyond .2 presidents, there are otherjabs and vaccinations that are mandatory for front line nhs staff, so in
of other problems, too. our emergency departments and hospitals are under huge pressure and there are long queues of patients waiting for beds in the hospital which makes things very busy in emergency departments. primary care, our gp colleagues are under a lot of pressure as well, so at the moment, this winter, it is notjust about intensive care and finding intensive care beds, it is about the wider strain on the nhs and how we juggle the range of problems, one of which is covid. and one thing knocks to another, presumably. one of the consequences you do not know yet is whether the restrictions imposed on care homes will delay discharge, for example, for elderly patients who perhaps need to go into a residential care facility and at the moment are still in hospital. there are so many unponderables with this, even before you get into whether or not omicron is more dangerous for patients than delta has been? that is exactly right. the problem that the nhs has its uncertainty. we have to
over fishing tensions between france and the uk overfishing rights. french over fishing rights. french fishermen overfishing rights. french fishermen have said they may block it in calais and the channel tunnel stop sajid javid is determined to make vaccination compulsory for front line nhs workers within weeks. 110,000 workers i get to have the jab, about 8%. some parents are reporting grief like symptoms after teenagers head to university. they say since living so close in lockdown, more parents are struggling with empty nest syndrome. the bbc news website is reporting on a lesser known coronavirus symptom, covid toe. ouch! we do not want to linger on that picture for too long, do we? winnie the pooh has been a children s favourite bedtime
still record high levels. what is your reaction to that? yes, i mean, as we are your reaction to that? yes, i mean, as we are seeing, your reaction to that? yes, i mean, as we are seeing, the your reaction to that? yes, i mean, as we are seeing, the 5.6 your reaction to that? yes, i mean, as we are seeing, the 5.6 million, i as we are seeing, the 5.6 million, the highest ever waiting list that we ve seen, and i think that demonstrates the real operational pressure that the front line nhs is under and i think within that the figures that look at those who have been waiting for longer than 52 weeks, so longer than a year, is at nearly 300,000, and that has just increased exponentially over the period of the pandemic. and it demonstrates the significant impact of this seismic event, which is the pandemic, which built on an nhs that was striving to get through as many procedures and operations as possible, but was really struggling pre pandemic as well. so i think what we ve got is