London mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” in the wake of the rapid roll-out of Covid-19 across the capital and the risk of the NHS overflowing with the rise in cases.
A major incident is defined as “usually outside the scope of work, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disorder or endangerment to the life or welfare of persons, essential services, the environment or national security, ”the mayor’s job. office in a Jan. 8 statement.
His diagnosis follows a rise in Covid-19 cases in London to more than 1,000 per 100,000 people who put pressure on the NHS.
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Between 30 December and 6 January, the number of patients in London hospitals grew by 27% (from 5,524 to 7,034) and the number on mechanical ventilation increased by 42% (from 640 to 908).
Over the past three days, the NHS has announced 477 deaths in London hospitals following a positive test for Covid-19.
Khan has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for more support for Londoners who have to separate and cannot work, daily vaccination data, closure of places of worship and for normal face mask wear. outside the home, especially in crowded areas such as a supermarket queue.
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“The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control,” said Khan.
“The number of cases in London has risen rapidly with over a third more patients now being treated in our hospitals compared to the peak of the pandemic in April. last year.
“Our brave doctors, nurses and NHS staff are doing an amazing job, but with things rising so fast, our hospitals are in danger of being overrun. The strong truth is that we will be running out of beds for patients in the next few weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down significantly.
“We are announcing a major event as the threat posed by this virus to our city is imminent. If we don’t take immediate action now, our NHS could collapse and more people die.
“The people of London are still making great sacrifices and today I urge them to stay at home unless it is necessary for you to leave. Stay at home to protect yourself, your family, your friends and the people of London and to protect our NHS. ”
Major events have previously been announced for the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, the terrorist attacks at Westminster Bridge and London Bridge and the Croydon tram crash in November 2016.
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