INTENSIVE CARE IS IN DANGER, ADMITS PM
As the darkest day sees death toll hitting 1,564...
There is a ‘very substantial’ risk the NHS will run out of intensive care beds, Boris Johnson admitted last night as the country suffered its deadliest day of the pandemic so far.
The Prime Minister said that despite signs the national lockdown in england was starting to slow the spread of the virus, there were concerns hospitals will not be able to cope.
The stark warning came as the daily reported death toll reached a new high, with 1,564 fatalities recorded within 28 days of a positive test.
Amid fears about a new variant of the virus identified in Brazil, Mr Johnson also acknowledged schools may not reopen after the February half-term as planned.
And Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, last night said the ‘period of high death numbers’ is ‘going to carry on for some weeks’.
‘It’s not going to come down quickly even if the measures that are in place now start to reduce the infection numbers. So we’re in for a pretty grim period, I’m afraid,’ he told ITV’s Peston programme.
The latest death figures mean the grim milestone of more than 100,000 deaths involving coronavirus has now been passed in the UK, although that is not the official UK death toll.
Mr Johnson said yesterday the national lockdown in england was ‘ starting to show signs of some effect’ in some parts.
But he warned the country was in the ‘toughest of times’ with the NHS facing a ‘colossal strain’ and the possibility of intensive care units (ICUs) being overwhelmed.
Appearing before the Commons liaison committee, Mr Johnson said there were 32,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital, which he said was about 70 per cent higher than during the first peak in April.
he told MPs: ‘If you ask me when do we think that the ICU capacity is likely to be overtopped, I can’t give you a prediction for that. But all I can say is that the risk is very substantial and we have to keep the pressure off the NHS and the only way to do that is to follow the current lockdown.’
Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public health england, said there have now been more deaths in the second wave than the first.
The 1,564 deaths recorded yesterday was the biggest figure in a single day since the pandemic began, although because of a lag in reporting the deaths will not have all occurred on the same date.
The latest figures bring the total number of deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive test to 84,767.
But when all deaths where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate are counted, plus deaths known to have occurred more recently, the number of deaths involving Covid is 101,160. researchers yesterday warned patients admitted to full hospital ICUs have an increased risk of dying.
Those admitted when hospitals are particularly full are exposed to the same risk as a patient 11 years their senior, academics suggested.
The study, led by experts at University College London, examined survival rates compared with ICU occupancy during the first wave of the pandemic. They found that the likelihood of death was 19 per cent higher when ICUs were fuller with at least 85 per cent occupancy.
Meanwhile, two more emergency morgues have been opened as the Covid death toll continues to rise.
Local authorities in both Wiltshire and Leeds confirmed their hospital mortuaries had reached capacity and have been using temporary facilities since December.
It comes after both Kent and Surrey said they had opened morgues – built following the first wave of coronavirus – for the first time to deal with the overflow of bodies.
Leeds City Council said 50 Covid victims have been stored at a £800,000 temporary facility in Waterside Industrial Park for the time since it was built.
Wiltshire Council said Salisbury District hospital and Great Western hospital had reached the capacity for 171 bodies and were having to use temporary morgues set up in March. The Aylesford Temporary Place of rest, which has capacity for 825 victims of the virus, was set up as part of Kent County Council’s worst-case scenario planning.
It has been used since New Year’s Day after emergency measures saw the county take in bodies at an ‘ unprecedented rate’, a council meeting was told.
Officials in Surrey said 600- capacity mortuaries operated by hospitals in the county were full and around 300 bodies had been sent to a temporary facility over the past fortnight.
‘Mortuaries have reached capacity’