Foreign media: The British healthcare system is under great pressure and is in a "state of crisis"

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday that Britain's health system will remain under pressure in the coming weeks amid the current surge in covid-19 infections, but he said he would not soon introduce measures to strengthen the prevention and control of the outbreak to slow the spread of the virus, the Associated Press reported in London on January 3.

The highly contagious Olmi kerong variant has caused the number of new daily cases in the UK to surge during Christmas and New Year, with 157758 cases of infection reported in England and Scotland on Monday and 42 deaths in England. Data for Wales and Northern Ireland were not released.

Visiting a vaccination centre in Aylesbury, 85 kilometres northwest of London, Johnson said: "I think we have to recognise that our NHS and our hospitals are going to be under considerable pressure in the coming weeks, and possibly even more. ”

Earlier, the Sunday Times reported that some hospitals in eastern Lincolnshire had declared "major incidents" due to an "extremely severe and unprecedented" shortage of manpower.

Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers, told BBC reporters: "We are seeing more and more healthcare workers absent from work, and there is a lot of pressure in addition to that. ”

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Federation, which represents 1.5 million healthcare workers, said most healthcare facilities were in a "state of crisis" and exacerbated by the huge demand for health care and the absence of healthcare workers. "Some hospitals are making urgent appeals to exhausted healthcare workers to give up their days off and vacations to maintain core services," he said. To reduce the spread of the virus, more hospitals have had to ban visitors. ”

Johnson's administration reportedly lifted almost all restrictions on epidemic prevention and control in July, but last month reversed course and launched a "backup plan" in England — requiring people to wear masks in indoor public places, requiring vaccination certificates or negative test results when entering nightclubs, and requiring people to work from home if possible.

Johnson on Monday urged people to comply with the rules and get vaccinated, while the government sought to alleviate the shortage. But Johnson appeared to rule out tightening policy in the coming days. (Compile/Paint)

This is a temporary hospital under construction photographed in London, Uk, on December 31, 2021. Xinhua News Agency

Source: Reference News Network