Hospital Covid admissions drop by 28% in London

Hospitals in London have seen a drop of 28% in Covid admissions since last week

The number of people admitted to London hospitals with Covid has dropped, according to figures released today, Monday, January 3. A total of 314 patients were hospitalised on January 1, compared to 437 last Monday 27, which equates to a fall of 28 per cent in a week.
Figures across the UK have gone up by 44.6 per cent though, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suggest that NHS staff might have to be redistributed to cover shortages brought about by the spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain.
Compared to last Monday’s 109,077 cases, Department of Health figures show today that the UK overall has another 157,758 cases reported. That makes today the 13th consecutive day with more than 100.000 cases. With 42 deaths registered today, this shows a drop of 70.6 per cent on last Monday’s 143.
Paul Hunter, a Professor in Medicine, posting on Twitter, said, “Latest Zoe app data suggests that infections in London did peak a day or so before Christmas, and are probably peaking nationally about now, though still region to region variation”.
“Covid cases in London now decreasing + UK slowing – it is great to see no real change in Covid deaths over last month”, tweeted Tim Spector, a scientist working for the ZOE Covid study app, and PREDICT studies. “The health crisis is in danger of being driven by staff problems due to over-cautious isolation rules. Let’s reduce this to 5 days!”, he added.
A ‘critical incident’, brought about by ‘extreme and unprecedented’ shortages in staff, was declared today by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. To deal with expected staff shortages, schools are being urged to make contingency plans for when they reopen after the Christmas holidays.
Rail services are also under pressure. Almost one-third have been cancelled across the country in the last days, with up to one in ten staff calling in sick. This same scenario is reflected in local councils, some of whom have already had to cut bin collection services, and other essential services.
Visiting a vaccination centre at the Guttmann Stadium in Stoke Mandeville today, Mr Johnson made a plea for the British public to stick with ‘Plan B’. “I think the way forward for the country as a whole is to continue with the path that we’re on. We’ll will keep everything under review. The mixture of things that we’re doing at the moment is, I think, the right one”, he said.
So, number one, continue with Plan B, make sure that people take it seriously, do what we can to stop the spread, use the Plan B measures, work from home if you can, wear a mask on public transport, take a test before going out to meet people you don’t normally meet, think about the the requirements under Plan B, but also get the booster”.

Adding, “I think we’ve got to recognise that the pressure on our NHS, on our hospitals, is going to be considerable in the course the next couple of weeks, and maybe more”, as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

Brilliant to join the PM, @borisjohnson, visiting the vaccination centre at the Guttmann Stadium in Stoke Mandeville to thank the entire team for their tremendous work delivering tens of thousands of jabs to local people. #GetBoostedNow @OxfordHealthNHS
@bucksccgs @wheelpower pic.twitter.com/wcV6imXKcx

— Rob Butler MP (@RobBAylesbury) January 3, 2022

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