the united kingdom has recorded the
highest number of coveted deaths in a
24-hour period
since the pandemic struck last year at
more than sixteen hundred
experts say it's likely that the coming
weeks we'll see figures
even higher than this but they also
point out that the number of new
infections
is falling and the number of
vaccinations continues to rise
well that news will offer some much
needed hope to nhs staff throughout the
uk
the faculty of intensive care medicine
says that many hospitals are now
overwhelmed
with some staff almost on their knees
after
many months of treating desperately ill
patients
and that is certainly the distressing
reality of life at the royal london
hospital
and tonight in the second of his special
reports clive myrie discovers the heavy
price
being paid by both staff and patients
the birth of a new day brings a familiar
demon more covered infections
and more death
and it's others who must stare into the
abyss
to spare our eyes i'm sorry
like hannah a senior mortician at the
royal london hospital
part of a small team of just five that's
handled
hundreds of bodies in this pandemic
how do you ever prepare for people just
dying and dying and dying you know it's
although it's our job when we deal with
the people
every day um this this level
i i think has taken its toll does it
feel like a conveyor belt
it does it does in a way yeah and
i hate to say that because i hate to
think of it like that but yeah
yeah it is almost yeah that's what the
pandemic's done i mean
yeah it's no one's fault
sorry
i've done this for years you know i'm
just when someone says to you how does
it make you feel when you're saying how
it makes you feel yeah this this is how
it makes me feel
the inner turbulence revealed
and yet outer strength is what we crave
a brave face in those fighting the virus
on our behalf
as every day the hospitals fill up
including the royal london
how many floors are taken up by covert
patients here uh
we've got patients on the third floor
fourth floor this ward goes all the way
around to the other side it's 29
patients sixth floor
seventh floor eighth floor another
covered patient in here ninth floor
another one in here
again round for the other side that's
another 29 patients 12 13. this is our
third ward with 31 patients and then
obviously up here
each four of these four bedded bays
contain covered patients the 14th and
the 15th floor so that's 12 floors in
total
12 out of 15 floors more than 400
patients and there aren't enough staff
it's madness
and curiously despite all the drugs and
fancy equipment
the simple technique of periodically
turning over a covered patient
or proning can help force oxygen into
scarred lungs
but the manpower needed is immense
turning and returning and turning again
day after day
and in the middle of the storm mari
healey yes fairly urgent a commanding
presence
still coming go go go all right that's
your first day
and a friend to all what have i done
without you today
for those less scrupulous about social
distancing and wearing masks
she gives the benefit of the doubt
despite the effect
on the nhs i think
the public want to do the right thing
but i don't feel they
understand fully the scale of the
problem so i don't think taken for
granted we don't
so you think the public don't get the
pressure
that is on everyone working in this
hospital and up and down the country
definitely i don't think they do because
i think if they did
they really wouldn't hesitate to do the
right thing
back on the ward the oxygen levels
plummet of a covet patient
in their mid-twenties proning must be
quick
but more specialist care may be
necessary to oxygenate the blood
through an artificial lung
consultant pjs olfagari who predicted a
second coronavirus wave
calls papworth hospital in cambridge to
see if they'll take the patient
ventilation has become very difficult
again just now
as kathy mcgloin leads the team trying
to keep her alive
but there's bad news so you're full is
that right
now the pressure's really on but quiet
professionalism
kicks in not too good breathing is not
great
it's breathing
[Music]
okay yeah good relief
enough oxygen is now finally reaching
the patient's lungs
and yet kathy isn't an intensive care
doctor she's a consultant anesthetist
offering a helping hand like the trauma
surgeons pediatricians immunologists
all mucking in during this appalling
covet crisis
i feel a lot better now how worried were
you
i'm sweating and it's not just the ppe
so
i mean she's young she's someone's
relative
this is something precious that we're
holding and we're trying to do
um yeah it's quite frightening
frightening one word that defines
kovid's second wave for the nhs
heartbreaking is another as mari healy
checks on a 28 year old man with no
underlying conditions but who's been on
a ventilator for more than
three weeks obviously very distressing
and
this is a very serious complication at
this stage
he's also got other family members in
critical care
as we speak time to call his wife
now i know he is quite sick he could die
from this by the way i'm sorry to have
to say that
[Music]
i know love i know i know don't worry
we're doing everything we can for him
very difficult because
it's very difficult because this poor
family have been through a huge amount
and they're actually so nice that makes
it more difficult
the inner turbulence revealed
the rain mirrors shamima's recent tears
for her family
she took mari's call as her husband
fights for his life
his condition remains serious on life
support
clive myery bbc news
and that's the reality of the pandemic
for staff and patients
at the royal london that was clive my
reporting
with camera journalist david mcelveen
and producer sam
perranti let's have a look then at the
latest government figures out today
there were 33 355 new coronavirus
infections
recorded in the latest 24-hour period
and that means that the average
number of new cases reported per day in
the past week is 43
257 it is continuing to fall at this
point
hospitals have had an average of 37 946
covid patients in the week 2 last sunday
as we mentioned uh 1610 deaths have been
reported thus people who died
within 28 days of a positive covet test
on average in the past week 1181 deaths
were announced
every day the total number of deaths so
far across the uk
is 91 470.
let's also go through the latest figures
here on the uk's program of vaccination
to see where we are
204 076 people
have had their first dose of one of the
three approved vaccines
in the latest 24-hour period and that
takes the overall number of people
who've had their first vaccination in
the uk to more than
4.2 million so having seen the figures
let's talk to our
medical editor fergus walsh who's with
me can we talk about the number of
deaths that we've been reporting today
yes terrible figures hugh uh you saw in
clive's report the appalling impact
that the pandemic is now having at
hospitals in london
but i can tell you that it's the same
across
almost all of the uk the hospitals i
visit and you saw it in that report
the pressure on staff they're
shell-shocked they're drained they've
been doing this now
for nearly a year there are almost
38 000 covid patients in uk hospitals
that's 16 000 more than at the peak
last april and all this at the busiest
time of the year for the nhs now covered
cases
as you said are beginning to come down
but it'll take a couple of weeks for
that to
feed into a reduction in deaths but even
once we pass the peak
we've really got to expect a long and
hard struggle through winter
can we talk as well about the whole
issue of resistance
to the virus in its various forms
people talk a lot about the antibodies
what can we say about that today okay so
the new figures from the office for
national statistics
looking at how many people have
previously had
a coronavirus infection and built up
antibodies
which should give them some protection
for several months
now if we look at the latest study for
december it's estimated that
one in eight people in england had
antibodies to coronavirus
one in ten in wales one in 11 in
scotland
and one in 13 in northern ireland around
double the levels
in october it's just a snapshot a point
in time and many
who had coronavirus in the first wave
um nearly a year ago they they may still
have some immune
defenses but their anti-levels body
levels won't show up anymore but one
positive
in the weeks and months ahead here we
will see a huge rise
in antibody levels in the protection
from the population
in people who've had a vaccine okay
fungus thanks very much once again
fergus walsh
our medical editor