COVID-19 infections and related deaths hit grim milestones amid increasing risk of British hospitals being overwhelmed.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus recorded in the UK has now exceeded three million, as the human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rise amid growing fears about the rapidly spreading new variant of the virus.
British authorities on Saturday announced another 59,937 new infections and 1,035 related deaths, raising the total death toll to 80,868 – one of the highest in Europe, after Italy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a third home order earlier this week as the alarm worsened that hospitals could be overwhelmed, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in the capital on Friday, saying the distribution of COVID -19 was “out of control”.
According to Neave Barker, Al Jazeera, he reports the situation as “extremely bad”.
‘Before the majority of the population receives the vaccine, there could be a significant impact on the management of hospitals … [as well as] the death toll and the infection rate, ”he said.
To date, more than 1.5 million people in the UK have received coronavirus jabs, while the elderly, their carers and health workers have been put at the forefront during the immunization process.
The government has launched a new public awareness campaign to help people better comply with coronavirus restrictions, with Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer, appearing in a video ad urging people to stay home as much as possible , the National Health Service (NHS) to protect lives.
Citizens are also encouraged not to be complacent and act as if they have the virus, or people around them have COVID-19.
Medical workers transport a patient from an ambulance at Royal London Hospital [Simon Dawson/Reuters]
Last week, the government announced what is now the third national exclusion as it has a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has swept through Britain.
The rise in infection threatens to overwhelm hospitals, putting more strain on doctors and nurses who are already almost tired after almost a year of the pandemic.
“We hear of people being treated in ambulances and car parks outside the hospital because there is no space inside to bring people in,” said Dr Tom Dolphin, an anesthetist in hospital and spokesman for the British Medical Association Council , said. “It’s to the point that we’re struggling to maintain basic standards in some hospitals.”
The number of COVID-19 patients treated at the London hospital rose by almost a third in the first week of January alone, and according to Khan, the number of artificially ventilated patients rose by more than 40 per cent.
Hundreds of firefighters came to the aid of the health service to run ambulances.
Meanwhile, British Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were among those to be vaccinated on Saturday. It is understood that the monarch decided that the information should be made public to prevent inaccuracies and speculation.
The UK is launching the Pfizer / BioNTech and Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccines to stop the spread of the virus.
Regulators in the country also this week approved the vaccine from the American firm Moderna – the third that has been approved for use.
The government intends to vaccinate 15 million of the most vulnerable groups – including frontline staff in the NHS – by 15 February, and has deployed armed forces to help with the rollout.