U.K. hospitals stagger as new virus variant takes huge toll

LONDON » Britain is facing a long, bleak winter as cold, wet weather and a more contagious variant of the coronavirus put unprecedented strain on the nation’s hospitals and force record numbers of patients to wait 12 hours or more, sometimes on ambulance gurneys, before receiving treatment.

That picture made Prime Minister Boris Johnson order a third national lockdown that started Tuesday and requires everyone in England to stay at home for at least the next six weeks except for exercise, medical appointments, essential shopping and a few other limited exceptions.

“It’s not hyperbole to say that the (National Health Service) is going through probably the toughest time in living memory,” said Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst of the King’s Fund, a U.K. think tank that focuses on health and social care. “I was speaking to an emergency care physician from London last week, and she was saying that half of her shift was spent delivering care in ambulances because they couldn’t get the patients into the emergency department.”

England’s previous nationwide lockdown ran from Nov. 5 to Dec. 5. In announcing the new stay-athome order, Johnson said it won’t be reviewed for lifting until at least mid-February.