Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Friday declared a “major incident”, involving a coordinated public service response, in the UK capital where the coronavirus is “out of control” and hospitals are at risk of being ” submerged “.
“The situation in London is now critical, with the virus spreading out of control,” the Labor official said in a statement.
“We will run out of beds in the next two weeks if the spread of the virus does not slow down drastically,” he continued, calling for increased support from the government.
“If we don’t act immediately, our national health service could be overwhelmed and more people will die,” he added.
According to the press release, the number of contaminations exceeds 1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants in the city, where 7,034 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, or 35% more than during the peak of the first wave in April. Among them, 908 were placed on a respirator (+ 42% between December 30 and January 6).
Over the past three days, 477 people who tested positive have died in London hospitals.
One in 30 city residents infected with the virus
“There are currently around 830 admissions per day in London hospitals, up from around 500 before Christmas, and they could continue to increase over the next two weeks,” the statement said.
The medical journal Health Service Journal said that even if the number of patients increases according to the most optimistic projections, there will be a shortage of 2,000 general and intensive care beds in hospitals in London by January 19.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than 1.12 million people were infected with the virus in England last week, or one in 50 inhabitants, and even one in 30 in London.
The hardest hit European country with more than 78,000 dead, the United Kingdom is counting on confinement, started Wednesday in England, as well as a mass vaccination program to stop the spread of the virus.
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