Leaked documents show London risks running out of hospital beds
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 11, 2021
An official appeal for information from the Intellectual Property Crime Unit of the City of London Police says that the crook targeted the victim at her home on Kingsmead Avenue in Surbiton on December 30th, coming to her door in broad daylight and claiming to be a National Health Service (NHS) worker who had come to vaccinate her against the Chinese coronavirus. Simon Walsh, vice chairman of the BMA advisory board and emergency doctor in London, said "the NHS is in a perilous position with many hospitals now creaking at their seams". On Thursday, government figures showed that another 1,162 people were reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
The chief medical officer is the face of the ad which is part of a campaign encouraging the public to control the spread of Covid-19.
Khan, a member of the opposition Labour Party, also wrote to Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking for more financial support for Londoners who need to self-isolate and are unable to work, and called for masks to be worn in crowded outdoor spaces as well as indoors.
"If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed, and more people will die", he said. "And if it is needed, of course, then it will be used", he said, referring to a field hospital that was set up at the start of the pandemic.
Scotland also recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, while the number of people being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals has exceeded the April peak.
A laboratory study by the USA drugmaker Pfizer, not yet peer-reviewed, indicated that the vaccine it is making, developed by Germany's BioNTech, does work against one key mutation in the new variants found in Britain and South Africa.
The U.K.is recording virus-related deaths on a par with some of the worst days of the pandemic. There are exemptions for some, including truckers, airline crew and children under 11. That's just shy of the record high of 1,224 deaths on April 21.
Britain's total coronavirus-related death toll is now 78,508. The lockdown came into effect on Tuesday, more than two weeks after scientists warned the new variant was potentially 70% more contagious.
The United Kingdom on Wednesday confirmed more than 62,000 new cases in 24 hours, with numbers growing quickly outside southeast England, where clusters of a new highly infectious strain of the virus were first identified. Priority for the first shots previously was given to the most vulnerable in British society, such as those in care homes.
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