Filenews 17 February 2021
A further 1.7 million people in England will be asked to put themselves in isolation to protect themselves from the coronavirus, as they are judged to be in high-risk categories of serious disease.
The decision by Public Health England is based on a new model of calculating the factors that make a person more vulnerable to coronavirus developed by researchers at Oxford University.
These factors include, inter alia, ethnic origin, weight and possible degradation of each person's area of residence. The researchers came up with these riskier factors by studying the characteristics of the victims of the first wave of the pandemic.
So far the recommendation for isolation has involved 2.3 million citizens with specific conditions, such as Down syndrome, serious respiratory diseases or those who have undergone organ transplantation.
Of the 1.7 million vulnerable citizens, 900,000 have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The rest are believed to fall into the priority categories following the vaccination programme, but there will be mobilisation to put them at the forefront of those waiting to be invited for the vaccine.
Unlike in the first wave of the pandemic in the UK, citizens who are in isolation for health reasons are this time allowed to come out of their homes for exercise.
Development of antibodies from vaccines
Meanwhile, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of people over the age of 80 in England who have developed antibodies against coronavirus has increased.
In particular, 41% of older people were found to have developed antibodies, while two weeks ago the corresponding figure was 26%. The ONS accompanied the publication of the results of the tests carried out with the observation that "it is most likely that (the increased proportion of older people with antibodies) is due to the high amount of vaccinations in this age group".
The age group with the next highest rate of antibodies was 16-24 years old with 26%. In this case antibodies have developed due to infection with the virus.
Until the start of the vaccination programme in England this younger age group had the highest rate in the development of antibodies.
Source: eyenews/CYPE
