UK researchers: The herd immunity threshold will be reached on Monday

The UK population will achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus next Monday, researchers from University College London said on Thursday. – This is an important milestone – said prof. Karl Friston.

According to the models created by scientists from this university, on April 12, the percentage of people who are protected against the virus through vaccination, previous infections or natural immunity will reach 73.4%. This is the point at which the community acquires herd immunity, that is, enough immunity is built up to force the virus to withdraw, the researchers believe.

– It’s like a chain reaction. If the possibility of transmitting the virus from one person to more than one more is removed, then it will die out, Prof. Karl Friston of UCL. – This is an important milestone that reflects the fact that things are going as planned. This suggests that it is unlikely that there will be a sharp rise in deaths or hospitalization after the summer or fall, he added.

But, he stressed, achieving herd immunity should not be a reason for lifting restrictions faster. “This doesn’t mean we should suddenly change our approach to unblocking or social distancing. The threshold of herd immunity itself will depend on the risk of transmission, and that will depend on things like social distancing, Friston said.

3030 coronavirus infections were detected in the last 24 hours in the UK and 53 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported on Thursday. In both cases, these numbers are slightly higher than in the Wednesday balances, but the aggregate data for the last seven days is clearly lower than for the previous seven. There was a decrease in the number of infections by 37.3%, and in the number of deaths – by 32.5%. Since the start of the epidemic, 4.37 million infections have been detected, resulting in 126,980 deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of people who received both doses of the vaccine exceeded six million. Until Wednesday inclusive, the first dose was received by 31.8 million people, which is 60.4%. adult inhabitants of the country, and both – almost 6.1 million, or 11.6 percent. adults.

Want to know more about the coronavirus pandemic? Check the statistics:

Poland against the backdrop of the world

Situation in individual countries

Indicators per million inhabitants

–