LONDON – UK hospitals are under unprecedented stress with the rupture of a rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus across the country, with pressure intensified as doctors say they are saving more lives, which means that more hospital beds are being used.
The most contagious virus variant has led to a record number of hospitalizations and has pushed the National Health Service, administered by the government, to its limits in some parts of the country. While dealing with the sudden increase, doctors are trying to reduce fatalities in several ways, guided by the harsh lessons of spring.
They established protocols so that elderly people with the virus are not sent from hospitals to nursing homes, where last spring these measures sowed the spread of the virus that killed thousands. They use improved treatments for Covid-19 that are keeping more people alive.
In the meantime, they continued with elective surgeries so that people with serious illnesses, such as cancer, could receive procedures. It also means that more hospital beds are occupied.
The downside: hospitals are even more crowded and under more pressure than last spring.