UK Covid deaths top 1,100 for first time since April as daily cases up by 52,618

The UK has recorded 52,618 coronavirus cases and1,162 deaths overnight.

It is the first time the daily Covid-19 death toll has passed 1,100 since April.

It is the highest single-day total since April 21, when 1,224 deaths were recorded.

But the Government’s death figures continue to be affected by a lag in the publication of recent data. They contain some deaths that occurred over the Christmas and New Year period that have only just been reported.

The total number of infections recorded across the country since the start of the pandemic now stands at 2,889,419, while the total number of deaths within 28 days of a postivie test is 78,508, according to the Department of Health dashboard.

However, separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been more than 94,000 fatalities involving the virus in the country.

It comes as NHS trusts in London are on the verge of being overwhelmed, according to leaked health service documents, while other trusts are rapidly turning normal wards into intensive care units (ICUs).

As of January 4, there were 30,451 people in UK hospitals with coronavirus, much higher than the April 12 peak of 21,684.

Meanwhile

– A surgery visited by Health Secretary Matt Hancock to promote the vaccine launch in England is yet to receive supplies of the Oxford/AstraZeneca product. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the scenes were like something from political comedy The Thick Of It.

– Of the 269,886 people transferred to the NHS Test and Trace system in the week to December 30, 84.9 per cent were reached, down from 86.4 per cent in the previous week, and the lowest percentage since the week to October 28.

– In the seven days to January 3 there were 9,256 ambulance handover delays of between 30 and 60 minutes in England and 5,318 delays greater than 60 minutes. These are the highest weekly numbers so far this winter.

Hospitals across London have reached crisis point
PA

Rupert Pearse, professor of intensive care medicine and a consultant at the Royal London, said his  ICU staff are having to care for far more sick patients as he urged the public to heed the “stay at home” lockdown message.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there would usually be one fully-trained ICU nurse to one ICU patient but staff are becoming increasingly stretched.

“Right now we are diluting down to one (ICU) nurse to three (patients) and filling those gaps with untrained staff and in some instances doctors helping nurses deliver their care … and we’re even facing diluting that further to one in four,” he said.

“As intensive care doctors, we’re not sure how we can together deliver the quality of care that we need to.”

Speaking on behalf of the Intensive Care Society, he said the problems are not just in London, but in other hospitals across the UK, and are not limited to ICU wards.

He added: “We are really very concerned now about the seriousness of the situation … which is definitely worse than the first wave and proving much harder to deal with now as the resources we had in the first wave aren’t available to us.

“So we’re really struggling to provide the quality of patient care that we think patients deserve. And the impact of the pandemic is taking care away from other illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

“In essence, the healthcare available to all of us is not as good as it should be right now.”

Prof Pearse said that unless people take the lockdown seriously, the impact on healthcare across the country “could be catastrophic”.

Coronavirus: Deserted Tier 4 London

London Tier 4
1/18

According to an NHS England Zoom presentation seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), hospital capacity in London will not be enough for the expected rise in patients in the coming weeks.

The data showed that, even if the number of Covid patients grows at the lowest rate considered likely, and measures to manage demand and increase capacity, including opening the capital’s Nightingale hospital, are successful, the NHS in London will be short of nearly 2,000 general and acute (G&A) and intensive care beds by January 19.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, told the Today programme that hospital bosses across England are looking to the care and nursing home sector for any spare capacity.

He said the Exeter and Manchester Nightingale hospitals are currently being used but Nightingales are the “last-resort insurance policy” as they are not “purpose-built for health and care” and require the diversion of staff.

Elsewhere, Dr Richard Cree, from the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, urged people to follow the rules, writing on his blog: “I have spent a torrid few days desperately trying to keep people alive and failing.

“We have all seen far too many people die. Please, please stay at home.”

The first community vaccinations in England with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab took place in GP surgeries on Thursday and it is hoped that around 1,000 sites will be delivering vaccines by the end of the week.

The vaccine can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, unlike the Pfizer jab which requires storage at minus 70C.

Seven mass-vaccination centres will also open next week in London, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Surrey and Stevenage.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in