Covid: London's virus death toll exceeds 10,000

More than 10,000 Londoners have now died with coronavirus, official figures show.

A total of 10,122 people in London have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, according to Public Health England's latest data.

Currently 7,607 patients are in the capital's hospitals with Covid - including 1,085 people on ventilation.

It comes after a doctor warned Covid admissions had surged by more than 6,000 in six weeks.

Government figures show that on the day the England-wide lockdown was announced in November there were 1,102 coronavirus patients in hospitals across the capital.

At the end of the four-week lockdown on 2 December the admission figure had risen slightly to 1,637.

But the latest government statistics show that has now risen by nearly 6,000 since - to 7,607.

Figures also show that three east London boroughs currently have the highest coronavirus infection rates in the country.

Barking and Dagenham has the most with 1,540.1 per 100,000 people, while Newham has recorded 1,398.6 per 100,000 and there are 1,348.2 per 100,000 infections in Redbridge.

NHS data shows that two east London hospital trusts have recorded more than 1,000 Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, which manages Queen's Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes, has seen 1,153 deaths linked to coronavirus.

Barts NHS Trust, which runs five hospitals including Whipps Cross and Royal London, has recorded 1,150 since March.

London's medical director Dr Vin Diwakar told Tuesday's Downing Street press briefing that the infection rise in the capital was putting pressure on the NHS's ability to cope with other illnesses.

The Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL Centre has been reopened to take non-coronavirus patients, in order to free up beds inside London's hospitals.

The site in east London has also opened as the capital's first mass vaccination centre.

On Friday, the Mayor of London declared a "major incident" as he described the coronavirus spread in the capital as "out of control".

Since then, 125 firefighters and 75 Met Police officers have been drafted in to help the London Ambulance Service cope with demand.