A small number of serious cases among 16 and 17-year-olds has ‘merited’ offering them first doses of a vaccine
(PA)
Rising patient numbers are placing further strain on the NHS across the country, with major hospitals declaring “black alerts” over bed shortages and more operations being cancelled.
Hospital chiefs have warned the NHS is now the busiest it has ever been, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, has accepted the health service will need more investment.
In recent weeks hospitals across England have seen record levels of non-Covid patients turning up at A&E, with a lack of intensive care beds meaning routine surgeries, including for some cancer patients, have been cancelled across England.
It comes as the UK recorded 29,612 new Covid cases and a further 104 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in the latest 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group. said reaching herd immunity is “not a possibility” with the current Delta variant.
“The Delta variant will still infect people who have been vaccinated,” he told MPs. “And that does mean that anyone who’s still unvaccinated at some point will meet the virus.”
He added: “We don’t have anything that will [completely] stop that transmission.”
