hospitals to be full by 17 December
The government has been warned by scientists that every hospital bed in England will be full by December 17 if Covid restrictions are not intensified. It doesn’t help that fewer beds are available as a result of social distancing .
A Downing Street source has confirmed that the Government was advised hospitals in England could run out of beds by Christmas.
Capacity is already running low in parts of North East England, such as Liverpool and Greater Manchester, which are under Tier 3 lockdown.
A senior Tory said: “The Prime Minister is in an impossible position. He cannot let the economy collapse but a collapse in the NHS could be worse in the short-term. Having said his priority is to protect the NHS, he cannot risk hospitals being overrun. It would be disastrous at any time but much worse at Christmas. The risk of a permanent scar to his political and personal reputation is too great.
Covid may have sealed Trump’s fate; no Conservative wants that to happen to the PM.”
Hospital admissions have reached their highest level since April with 1,404 people admitted yesterday alongside another 280 deaths and 23,065 new infections recorded. There are currently 10,308 Covid-19 patients in NHS hospitals, up from 5,032 a fortnight ago.
Scientists yesterday warned the second wave of Covid has reached a “critical stage”, with infections doubling about every nine days. They estimate that there are nearly 100,000 new infections each day in England, meaning the pandemic is still “growing exponentially”.
Professor Steven Riley, from Imperial College London, said: “The rate of growth that we’re seeing in these data is really quite rapid. So one way or another there has to be a change before Christmas.”
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