COVID-19 infections and related deaths are passing stark milestones amid a growing risk of UK hospitals being overwhelmed.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus registered in the UK is now in excess of three million as the human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to increase amid growing concerns about the rapidly spreading new variants of the virus.
British authorities announced a further 59,937 new infections and 1,035 fatalities on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 80,868 – one of the highest in Europe, next to Italy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a third house arrest at the beginning of the week as alarms grow that hospitals could be overwhelmed, while London mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday declared a ‘major incident’ in the capital, saying the spread of COVID – 19 was “out of control”.
Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker reported from London and described the situation as “extremely bad”.
“Before the majority of the population gets the vaccine, there could be a significant impact on how hospitals deal with … [as well as] the death toll and the number of infections, ”he said.
To date, more than 1.5 million people in the UK have received coronavirus shots, with the elderly, their carers and health workers given priority during the immunization journey.
The government has launched a new awareness campaign to help people better comply with the restrictions of the coronavirus, with Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty appearing in a video ad urging people to stay at home as much as possible, the National Health Service (NHS) protect and save lives.
Citizens are also encouraged to not complain and pretend that they have the virus, or that those around them have COVID-19.
Medical workers transfer a patient from an ambulance at Royal London Hospital [Simon Dawson/Reuters]
Last week, the government announced what is now the third national lockdown as it fights a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has spread across Britain.
The wave of infection threatens to overwhelm hospitals, putting more strain on doctors and nurses already tired after nearly a year of the pandemic.
“We hear that people are being treated in ambulances and parking garages outside the hospital because there is no room to bring people in,” said Dr. Tom Dolphin, anesthetist at the hospital and spokesman for the board of the British Medical Association. “It gets to the point where in some hospitals we are struggling to maintain basic standards.”
The number of COVID-19 patients treated at the London hospital had risen by nearly a third in the first week of January alone, and the number of artificially ventilated patients increased by more than 40 percent, Khan said.
Hundreds of firefighters came to the rescue of the health service to drive ambulances.
Meanwhile, British Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were vaccinated on Saturday. Clearly, the monarch decided that the information should be made public to avoid inaccuracies and speculation.
The UK is counting on the introduction of Pfizer / BioNTech and Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccines to stop the spread of the virus.
Regulators in the country this week also approved the vaccine from the American company Moderna – the third to receive approval for use.
The government aims to vaccinate 15 million of the most vulnerable groups – including NHS frontline personnel – by mid-February, and has deployed military forces to aid in the rollout.