LONDON — Horrific scenes seen in previous Covid-19 waves are “now history,” according to John Bell, a regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and the U.K. government’s life sciences advisor.

Bell spoke to BBC Radio 4 Tuesday as he analysed data from the U.K. where there are many breaking records in cases and high numbers of hospital admissions. their highest since March. He stated that ICU staff are still “very low” in terms of vaccinations.

The incidence and rate of death due to this type of disease is high [Covid]He stated that the vaccines have not been changed in any way since everyone was vaccinated.

“The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago — intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely — that is now history in my view and I think we should be reassured that that’s likely to continue.”

When discussing the new variant of omicron, he said: “The disease appears to be less severe. Many people don’t spend much time in hospital. They don’t require high flow oxygen. Average length of stay at the hospital is three days. It is not as serious as it was a year earlier.”

A U.K. government study published Thursday said that people are far less likely to be admitted to the hospital with the Covid omicron variant than with the previous delta strain.

U.K. Health Security Agency stated that individuals with Omicron were between 31%-45% less likely than people with Delta to visit emergency rooms and 50 to 70% less likely need to be admitted to hospitals.

Due to the low number of Omicron cases in hospitals, this analysis is “preliminary but highly uncertain”. but it does tally with similar findings from scientists in South Africa and research teams at Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh.

Although daily death rates are low, initial research shows that the omicron type is not as serious as the other Covid strains. However, doctors have warned repeatedly that increasing numbers of infections could cause an increase in deaths and overwhelm the health-care system.

Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC via email last week that even if omicron does prove to be “milder” than other strains, the potential caseload could double or triple the number of people needing hospitalization in the U.K., where the virus is rampant — with particular risk to the unvaccinated.

He spoke out about the U.K. in particular, saying: “At an time when NHS is massively depleted from omicron, and b) hugely stretched, fatigued, after two thankless year on the frontline,” and that there “are no green shoots yet.”

U.K. leader Boris Johnson on Monday held offAny new regulations or requirements Covid-19 restrictions for England, at least before the end of this year.

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland have all implemented new restrictions to curb the spread. England however has remained steadfast in its existing stay-at home orders and increased mask wearing.

Bell stated Tuesday that Johnson’s failure to act on Monday was “probably okay” and pointed out that England’s behaviour had changed, with most people being “pretty accountable”. London still has fewer than 400 hospital admissions per day. This is an important threshold for government officials.

The U.K. has reported over 12.4 million infections — with another 129,471 on Tuesday — and at least 148,488 deaths since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.

—CNBC’s Elliot Smith and Ryan Browne contributed to this article.