LONDON (Reuters) – Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, declared a major incident in the British capital on Friday, saying that hospitals in the city were at risk of being overwhelmed if people don’t stay at home.
Khan warned that the number of hospital beds will run out in the coming weeks unless urgent action is taken to drastically stop the spread of the disease.
“The situation in London is now critical as the spread of the virus is spiraling out of control,” Khan said. “One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we don’t take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could become overwhelmed and more people will die. “
The number of COVID-19 cases in London is now more than 1,000 per 100,000 people, and between December 30 and January 6, the total number of hospital patients in the capital has increased by 27%. In the past three days, there were 477 deaths of patients who tested positive for the virus.
The number of people in the hospital is 35% higher than at the peak of the April pandemic, and there are concerns that admissions will continue to rise.
“We are reporting a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at a crisis point,” Khan said. “Londoners continue to make huge sacrifices and today I beg them to please stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave.”
A major incident is defined as being “outside the scope of normal business operations and is likely to result in serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security”.
The last major incident in London was declared after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, when 72 people died in the worst residential building fire since World War II.
Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton