London opened field hospitals and closed primary schools

© Reuters

The UK has launched NHS Nightingale field hospitals in London, which it first built across the country in April during the first wave of coronavirus. Furthermore, surprisingly for everyone, the capital’s primary schools were immediately closed.

In this way, authorities are trying to control the impending hospital overload crisis due to the rapid spread of the new and much more contagious version of the coronavirus. According to the British media, the tension is spreading, despite the restrictive measures introduced in November.

Professor Alex Gandhi of Imperial College London told the BBC that this option was “the most serious change in the virus since the beginning of the epidemic” and the big difference was how quickly it spread. An Imperial College study shows that the old version of COVID-19 was reduced by a third in November, while the number of new ones tripled.

The new strain increases the R rate of reproduction of the coronavirus between 0.4 and 0.7 units. The latest data for the UK is estimated to show an R of 1.1-1.3, while to halt the growth of the pandemic it should be lowered below 1.

In the last 4 days in the country more than 50 thousand new cases are registered per day. Health authorities say they expect an influx of patients after the holidays and therefore need more hospital beds.

In the final days of 2020, the main Royal London Hospital informed its staff that it was entering a “state of emergency medical care” and that it would not be able to provide the vital care at the high level for which it is known.

According to Sky News, today the intensive care units of three London hospitals are completely full and patients have had to be transferred to other hospitals.

Just two days ago, the government announced that it would open primary schools, but now the capital has abandoned that decision. Education Minister Gavin Williamson said that the move to distance education was a definitive and temporary measure. The opening of secondary schools has not yet been decided.

The Nightingale hospital complexes were erected in April by the military and health professionals in places such as gyms and exhibition centers. At that time they were hardly used, but they were not disassembled. Now they have been activated, but the Royal College of Nursing has warned that there are no longer enough staff in the country to tend to the new temporary facilities, especially as many doctors are ill or forced to isolate themselves.