UK reactivates emergency COVID-19 hospitals, closes London primary schools

Reuters | London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Britain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus.

With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds.

The announcement comes just days after the Royal London Hospital told staff in an email it was now in “disaster medicine mode” and unable to provide high standard critical care.

With the capital one of the areas worst-hit by the new variant, which is up to 70% more infectious, the government also decided to close all London primary schools, reversing a decision made just two days ago.

Britain is battling a new wave of a virus that has already killed more than 74,000 people and crushed the economy. One of the worst-hit countries in the world, it recorded 53,285 cases in the last 24 hours on Friday and 613 new deaths.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been criticised for frequent reversals during the pandemic, including delaying lockdown during the first wave in March and abandoning a system to award school grades without exams.

The temporary ‘Nightingale’ hospitals at locations such as convention centres were one success, built by the military in a matter of days. They were barely used but have remained on standby.

A Sky News report said intensive care units of three London hospitals were full-on New Year’s Eve, forcing patients to be transferred to other hospitals for critical care.

“In anticipation of pressures arising from the spread of the new variant infection, the NHS London Region were asked to ensure the Nightingale was reactivated and ready to admit patients should it be needed,” a spokeswoman for the National Health Service (NHS) said.