The UK has set a new record on Saturday with 57,725 new COVID cases, according to the health authorities. It’s the highest number since the start of the pandemic. In the last 24 hours, 445 people in the UK died of COVID.
It is the fifth consecutive day that the number of new deaths exceeds 50 000 in the UK. The high figures are attributed to the more contagious variant that is mainly circulating in the British capital London.
London hospitals are under enormous pressure. In at least three institutions, the intensive care unit was “full” on New Year’s Eve, reporting Sky News on the basis of a leaked e-mail from NHS Health Service. The British capital is already in lockdown and the government decided on Friday to keep primary schools closed in London. Emergency hospitals are also being reopened.