London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “big incident” in the British capital on Friday, saying the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is “out of control” and begging residents to ” stay home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave. “
Hospitalizations increased 27% between December 30 and January 6 in the city, Reuters reported, and there have been 477 reported deaths of patients with the new coronavirus in the past three days.
“The situation in London is now critical, with the virus spreading out of control,” said Khan. “One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we don’t take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”
Khan’s statement about the city in crisis comes less than a month after British authorities identified a more virulent strain of the virus that is more easily transmitted.
“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is in crisis,” said Khan. “Londoners continue to make enormous sacrifices and today I am begging you to stay at home, unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave.”
A serious incident is ” an event or situation with a series of serious consequences that requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency response agencies ”, in accordance with the United Kingdom’s Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles Britain (JESIP).
London defines it as ” beyond the scope of normal business operations and is likely to involve serious damage, damage, disruption or risk to human life or well-being, essential services, the environment or national security ”.
Officials in the Bournemouth and Sandbanks counties in southern England declared a “major incident” in late June, after thousands of people migrated to local beaches.
Despite the authorities advising people to stay away, the areas were flooded with cars and bathers, causing traffic jams, illegal parking and drunkenness and disorderly behavior. More than 40 tons of garbage had to be removed from the coast.
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