1 Covid-19 patient getting admitted to hospital every 30 seconds: NHS chief

The United Kingdom has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of highly transmissible variants of Sars-CoV-2.

The chief of the National Health Service (NHS) England said on Sunday that hospitals are under tremendous pressure since someone with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is getting admitted every 30 seconds. NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens revealed that there has been an increase of 15,000 inpatients across the country since Christmas, adding that it is equivalent to filling 30 hospitals with only Covid-19 patients.

Britain's Chief Executive of the National Health Service Simon Stevens at a virtual news conference on the Covid-19 pandemic. (REUTERS)

“The facts are very clear and I'm not going to sugar-coat them, hospitals are under extreme pressure and staff are under extreme pressure...Every thirty seconds across England another patient is being admitted to hospital with coronavirus,” said Stevens during the Andrew Marr show.

The United Kingdom has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of highly transmissible variants of Sars-CoV-2. The rise in cases has forced authorities to announce temporary shut down of all travel corridors from 4am (local time) on Monday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that inbound travellers will have to show a negative Covid-19 test result, taken within 72 hours before departure, along with a passenger locator form.

“This means that if you come to this country, you must have proof of a negative Covid test that you've taken in the 72 hours before leaving. And you must have filled in your passenger locator form, and your airline will ask for proof of both before you take off,” Johnson announced.

“I'm pretty confident by the time we get to the end of today, Sunday night, we will have perhaps done 1.5 million vaccinations this past week, that's up from around a million the week before,” said Simons.