Pressure on UK health services as virus surges

Hospitals in parts of London and southern England are becoming increasingly overstretched due to demand from coronavirus patients, with ambulances unable to unload patients at some hospitals because all beds are full. A growing number of National Health Service staff are off work because they are sick with the virus or self-isolating.

Authorities are blaming a new, more transmissible variant of the virus, first identified in southeast England, for the soaring infection rates. Doctor's Association UK committee member Dr. Katie Sanderson warned that the strain on hospitals is likely to worsen after people infected over Christmas become sicker over the next weeks.

Top officials were on Tuesday considering tightening coronavirus restrictions, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock scheduled to update Parliament on Wednesday on whether more areas will be put into Tier 4 - the top level of lockdown measures. England had 20,426 coronavirus patients in hospitals as of Monday morning - the last day for which figures are available - compared to its previous high of 18,974 on April 12. In the UK, a further 414 deaths were reported on Tuesday, along with a record 53,135 new cases. Britain has recorded more than 71,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths, the second-highest death toll in Europe after Italy.