Doctors urge Brits not to party with pals on New Year’s Eve as hospitals are ‘wall to wall’ with Covid patients

DOCTORS have urged Brits not to party with pals on New Year's Eve after hospitals were "wall to wall" with Covid patients on Christmas Day.

Hospitals are facing a rise in pressure as the number of coronavirus patients receiving treatment rockets past the April peak.

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The number of people being treated for the killer bug in hospitals in England is now 20,426, compared to 18,974 patients recorded on April 12.

Public Health England has warned "hospitals are at their most vulnerable" after a record 41,385 cases of the killer bug were confirmed today.

Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, described her experience in hospital on Christmas Day as "wall-to-wall Covid" and begged Brits not to gather for New Year's Eve celebrations.

She told BBC Breakfast: "Please, don’t take a chance on this, please don’t make it likely that we have an additional surge [on New Year’s Eve].

"Don’t mix, wear masks, wash your hands, keep separate — all the things we know we really need people to take very, very seriously."

She added: "We see patients who are coming in who have Covid symptoms and then we have other people coming in with other symptoms who turn out to be Covid positive.

"Between that, there's a great deal of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards.

"The chances are that we will cope but we cope at a cost - the cost is not doing what we had hoped, which is being able to keep non-Covid activities going.

"So we will stretch staff, the problem is at the moment we have a lot of staff sickness."

Other doctors have described hospitals as "warzones" in danger of being "overwhelmed".

Doctors in Wales have now urged for anyone with experience working in intensive care to come forward.

They said the NHS and public health services were facing a “bleak” situation, and that the new mutant strain could lead to them being “overwhelmed”.

'BUSIEST DAY EVER'

Meanwhile, paramedics in the capital are receiving up to 8,000 999 calls each day and support has been drafted in from other services in the region.

London Ambulance Service described Boxing Day as one its "busiest ever days", with 7,918 callouts - up more than 2,500 on the 5,217 received on the same day last year.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust declared an internal incident on Sunday due to the high number of coronavirus patients arriving at the  Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Lewisham.

A spokesperson said it was a "precautionary step".

"All our patients have received the treatment they need, including intensive care treatment for Covid-19 and oxygen therapy as required," a statement said.

"We are continuing to monitor the situation to ensure that this remains the case."

Infection rates in England are currently highest in areas of Essex, London and other parts of the South East.

Brentwood in Essex has the highest rate in England, with 1,111 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 23 - the equivalent of 1,442.5 cases per 100,000 people.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "We know that the rate of Covid-19 admissions is rising and some trusts are reporting up to three times the number of Covid patients than at the peak of the first wave.

It comes as:

• Primary school kids and Years 11 and 13 will return to class on January 4
• 10,000 medics and volunteers have been recruited by the NHS to help deliver the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine
• Experts have warned that the vaccine won't achieve herd immunity before the summer

"This means hospitals and also ambulance services in Tier 4 areas and beyond are incredibly busy, compounded by increasing staff absences due to illness and the need to self-isolate."

The latest data shows another 357 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid on Monday.