Mayor of London Sadiq Khan declared a major incident in the British capital on Friday, saying hospitals in the city were at risk of being overwhelmed if people do not stay at home, APA reports citing Reuters.
Khan warned that the number of hospital beds will run out in the next few weeks unless urgent action was taken to drastically stop the spread of the disease.
“The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control,” Khan said. “One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”
The number of people in hospital is 35% higher than during the peak of the pandemic on April, and there are concerns admissions will continue to rise.
“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point,” Khan said. “Londoners continue to make huge sacrifices and I am today imploring them to please stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave.”
The last major incident in London was declared following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 when 72 people died in Britain’s worst blaze in a residential building since World War Two.