British hospitals “on the warpath” against omicron and open temporary beds in the face of a wave of infections

British hospitals, “on the warpath” against the omicron variant of coronavirus, will deploy temporary structures with up to 4,000 additional beds to prepare for an eventual wave of income, health services announced on Thursday.

The United Kingdom has been registering infection records for days, a boom linked to the omicron variant, and the number of hospitalized patients with covid-19 in England it surpassed 10,000 on Wednesday for the first time since March.

“Temporary structures that can accommodate a hundred patients will be installed in eight hospitals and will begin to operate from this week”, announced the national health service (NHS) for England in a statement.

The NHS He also asked hospitals to identify “spaces such as gyms or education centers that can be converted to accommodate patients” in order to create up to 4,000 beds.

These provisional capacities should reinforce the system “if the number of COVID-19 infections leads to an increase in admissions and exceeds existing capacities,” he added.

“Given the high level of covid-19 infections and increased hospital admissions, the NHS is currently on a war footing,” Health Service Medical Director Stephen Powis was quoted as saying in the statement.

During the first wave of coronavirus, the NHS It deployed huge field hospitals in conference centers and stadiums, although these structures were barely in service due to the lack of hospitalized personnel.

Until now, the Boris Johnson government avoided imposing new restrictions in England, relying on studies that indicate a lower risk of hospitalization with omicron.

However, scientists warn that its high contagiousness could end up causing an equally important income wave.

The UK on Wednesday recorded a new record over 180,000 cases in 24 hours.

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