This was the first time the facility has admitted patients since it was set up last spring, and comes as three intensive care units in London revealed that they are full on New Year’s Eve.
The NHS is preparing to start giving the Covid-19 injection to people developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca from Monday, with two million doses to be given each week by mid-January.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is launching a recruitment campaign to encourage frontline workers in a bid to help the UK recover from coronavirus pandemic.
Live updates
London Covid patients are now 10% above the peak of the first wave
The latest NHS figures show that 5,685 hospital beds in London were filled with Covid-19 patients on New Year’s Day – about 10 per cent more than the first wave peak of 5,201 on 9 April. More on that here….
Routine issues are ‘moderate’ compared to what’s coming in a week, an expert warns
Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said the current case figures – which showed a further 53,285 laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK at 9am on Friday – “very mediocre” compared to expectations over the week and that healthcare staff are “very concerned” about the coming months.
“There is no doubt that Christmas will have a big impact, the new version will have a big impact too, we know that’s more infectious, more flexible, so I think the large numbers we see in the south The East, in London, in the south of Wales, is now to be shown over the next month, even two months, over the rest of the country, “he told BBC Breakfast.
‘Two million Oxford jobs will be done every week’
There is more optimistic news in the Times, which says that around two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are to be delivered weekly by mid-January.
London Nightingale Hospital ‘to take patients next week’
The Guardian reports that Nightingale Hospital in London will take Covid-19 patients next week. The facility was set up at the Excel center in Docklands last spring to help the NHS deal with the projected increase in coronavirus-ill patients but has remained vacant. for months. But it was announced on New Year’s Eve that he and others created across England had been reactivated amid a growing wave of issues.
good morning
Good morning and welcome to our live coronavirus blog for Saturday, January 2nd.
Much is going on with a growing series over the reopening of schools, hospitals in London coming under increasing pressure and the start of the AstraZeneca / Oxford University vaccine rollout. We will keep you up to date with the latest developments.