London mayor declares 'major incident' over COVID-19 hospital pressure

LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" in the British capital on Friday (Jan 8), saying hospitals in the British capital could be overwhelmed if people do not stay at home.

"Today I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point," he said. 

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"The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically," Khan added, urging greater support from the central United Kingdom government.

"One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die."

Britain began its third COVID-19 lockdown on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying the highly contagious new variant of the virus was spreading so fast the National Health Service risked being overwhelmed within 21 days.

More than 30,000 people in the UK are in hospital with COVID-19, which is more than during the first peak in April. Infection numbers are expected to rise further due to increased socialising during the Christmas period.

The sharp rise has forced hospital executives to consider shifting some inpatients to beds in nursing homes or care homes, said the head of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals in England.

More than 2.8 million people have been infected in the UK.

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