new analysis has confirmed that the new
variant of coronavirus has a much
quicker transmission rate than the
original strain
researchers at imperial college london
say that even with a lockdown similar to
that in england in november
the number of cases would still triple
and that this was the most serious
change in the virus that we've seen
it comes as the government reported
another 53
285 new infections the surge in cases
particularly in london
and the south east has left nhs
emergency staff at
battle stations according to medical
leaders
with health workers exhausted and
struggling to cope
health correspondent dominic hughes
reports
it might be a new year but there's no
let up in the pressure on hospitals in
london and the southeast
a surge in seriously ill-covered
patients means staff are being pushed to
the limit
intensive care beds are a real pinch
point some patients have been moved from
kent to bristol and plymouth where their
spare capacity
that in itself is not unheard of but
doctors say it shows the pressures
they're working under
if the number of cases don't begin to
reduce
fairly fairly soon and
indeed reduced sharply we would be in a
situation
where the healthcare infrastructure not
just in london but across the entire
country
is overwhelmed and it's not just rising
patient numbers
staff themselves are falling ill meaning
resources are getting stretched
everybody's reporting a lot of pressure
everybody is saying that it's really
difficult
to offload ambulances because our
departments are full
because in turn our hospitals are full
it's very frustrating because you can't
look after patients in the way you want
to
and when you feel helpless when you know
that there's a sick patient in an
ambulance which you just
can't get into a department because
there isn't space
in order to provide some relief the
nightingale hospital in london is being
made ready for non-covered patients
but still hospitals report the situation
remains very difficult
when we are seeing major london trusts
as we seen in the media today basically
saying
that they are under real pressure they
are
at more than double the normal rate of
icu admissions than they would see they
are are
turning whole flaws into additional icu
space that's when we know we're in a
very very challenging place
this surge in patient numbers is being
driven by the new variant of the
coronavirus it's more contagious and
it's affecting more
younger people and it's having an impact
not just on hospitals in london in the
southeast but right across the country
a new research highlights the impact the
new variant of the virus is having on
the r number the rate at which it
spreads
under the lockdown maybe over the course
of two to three weeks
the cases would have decreased by
something like 30 percent but
if the new variant is not present with
this increase in the r number
all of a sudden instead of a decrease of
30 percent we get
massive increase the number of cases
over the same period could triple
so this is more or less the most serious
change in the virus that we've seen
since the epidemic began the best
defense against the virus remains
maintaining social distance
good hand hygiene and wearing face
coverings but the big concern is that
as this new variant spreads the extreme
pressures now evident in london and the
southeast
will soon be seen across the country
and dominic is in salford for us now
dominic just as you were saying there
really this new variant is really
putting serious strain on the nhs
yes reach i mean tonight we're seeing a
real contrast aren't we that
optimism around the vaccine that we've
enjoyed for the last
couple of weeks and that remains our
chance of getting out
of this dreadful situation in which we
find ourselves and yet at the same time
the health services
braced for what we're told will be a
nail-biting few weeks and the reason for
that is
there are now hundreds of thousands of
people in the uk
who are infected with the coronavirus
and sadly some of them
will need hospital treatment they will
become very ill and will need that
hospital
care and yet hospitals are struggling
not just with rising patient numbers
but with staff sickness staff are also
exhausted they've been doing this
for months now so we know that
hospital cases have been rising here in
greater manchester as well a doctor told
me that
after a very busy october and november
they had a quiet few weeks at the
beginning of december and now those
cases are rising
once again so the great fear is that
what is happening in london and the
southeast will now spread
to the rest of the country driven by
this new strain of the virus
that does appear to be much more
contagious
thank you very much dominic our health
correspondent dominic hughes there