London Mayor Sadiq Khan Declares ‘Major Incident’ Amid COVID Spike

It was reported that in some parts of London, 1 in 20 people have the virus.

Sadiq Khan. (Xinhua/Han Yan/IANS)

Photo Courtesy: IANS

Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday, 8 January said that the spread of COVID-19 in London is “out of control” and went on to declare a “major incident” in the city, in a video reported by the BBC.

AFP quoted Khan saying, “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”

He added that over the next few weeks, unless the rate of infections reduces, the city of London could run out of beds.

The rate of COVID infection in London has exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people, based on the latest figures from Public Health England, BBC reported. “Across London, on average, 1 out of 30 now has this virus,” Khan said, highlighting the bleak situation in the city.

It was also reported that in some parts of London, 1 in 20 people have the virus.

“The London Ambulance Service usually gets 5,000-5,500 calls a day. Currently, it is taking up to 8,000 emergency calls a day,” Khan added, saying that “the number of COVID patients in the hospital are 35% more compared to last April’s peak of the pandemic.”

A major incident is a situation of emergency that necessitates the implementation of special operations by one or all of the emergency services, the NHS or the local authority, BBC reported.

(With inputs from BBC and AFP)