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BORIS JOHNSON has been warned that England’s hospitals will be full in December with no further closures, it was reported.
It comes as new data suggests that Britain’s growing second wave of coronavirus is already exceeding Sage experts’ “worst case” predictions of 85,000 deaths.
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A source told The Daily Mail that ministers were warned “in clear terms” that the hospital bed in the country will be full by December 17 if no further action is taken.
The source said: “They would have no choice but to turn people away, including additional Covid patients, people who have heart attacks, cancer, traffic accident victims, because there would be no beds to put them in and no staff to treat them.
“There could be a repetition here of the scenes in Lombardy in Italy at the beginning of the pandemic: the sick admitted to operating rooms or corridors.
“Hospital admissions are expected to increase slowly over the next several weeks, but skyrocket around Christmas.
HOSPITAL ALARM
“People don’t realize that social distancing measures can mean just ten beds in a room that’s meant to occupy 20.
“And there are a finite number of ICUs trained [intensive care unit] staff cannot do it without special training. “
A Downing Street source confirmed that the government had been warned that hospital beds could be full by Christmas.
The Mail understands that the warning that there are no beds in the wards for December 17 includes the ‘Nightingale’ emergency hospitals.
There could be a repetition here of the scenes in Lombardy in Italy at the beginning of the pandemic: the sick admitted to operating rooms or hallways.
A fountain
Meanwhile, a leaked Sage document has claimed that deaths could peak at around 800 per day by the end of February, with up to 25,000 people hospitalized.
The document, which circulated down Downing Street in the summer, predicted that deaths could reach 100 a day by the end of October.
But Britain’s seven-day moving average of deaths is currently 230, with 280 people registered as dying on Thursday and 310 on Wednesday.
The second wave would last until March or April, with “at least” 500 deaths a day between December and February, according to the alarming report.
And new research suggests that there are around 100,000 new cases a day in England as the deadly virus spreads across the country.
The report’s lead author, Professor Steven Riley of Imperial College London, said: “There has to be a change.
“The growth rate that we are seeing in this data is really quite fast. So one way or another there has to be a change before Christmas.”
VIRUS SPREAD
Today’s virus figures showed that the death toll in the UK had risen to 46,000 as another 280 people became victims of the virus.
Meanwhile, 23,065 more have tested positive for the deadly bug.
In total, 45,955 people have died from Covid since the outbreak began in the UK.
Most of the fatalities (73) occurred in the North West, while 31 people died in the North East and Yorkshire, 43 in the Midlands and 24 in London.
Six people died in the east, while the southeast had seven dead and the southwest eight.
In Scotland, 1,128 new cases of Covid were reported and 37 people died.
Meanwhile, in Wales, there were 1,375 new positive tests and 21 deaths.
It comes as West Yorkshire will undergo the tightest lockdown restrictions starting Monday, after local leaders demanded additional help to fight the virus.
The area, including Leeds, Huddersfield and Bradford, will be moved to Level Three, which means that pubs and bars will be closed with a night-out ban.
And 16 more areas in England will be subject to tighter restrictions over the weekend, including Oxford and the Midlands.
Large areas of the Midlands, including the city of Derby, all of High Peak, Dudley and Staffordshire will go to the Covid “high” alert level.
Of that number, 34 are struggling for life in intensive care.
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