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A ‘major incident’ has been declared in Essex as cases continue to climb in the suburban belt region, after local authorities said they fear the pandemic could overwhelm its facilities.
The Essex Resilience Forum (ERF) said the number of patients treated in hospitals for Covid-19 has now passed the April peak. On December 29, the NHS Trust in Mid and South Essex placed its three hospitals on critical alert.
The region sits at the country’s highest level on coronavirus restrictions, known as Tier 4, along with London and most of south-eastern England.
The ERF, which includes members of the local NHS, emergency services and authorities, said it was making the December 30 announcement in response to “significant growing demand” for its hospitals. He hopes the move will allow local leaders to seek additional support from the government.
It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock prepares to place more of the country under Level 4 restrictions in a bid to tackle a new variant of the coronavirus discovered earlier this month.
In an announcement to MPs after 3 p.m. on December 30, Hancock is expected to keep London under the tightest restrictions. On December 29, England surpassed 53,000 daily positive coronavirus cases, the highest daily total on record since the start of the pandemic.
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When asked if the current multi-tiered measures would be expanded, Hancock said the BBC: “Yes, I am going to present the details to the House of Commons this afternoon.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a meeting with ministers on December 29 to discuss changing the country’s lockdown rules, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Hancock also revealed that the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been approved by the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It will be rolled out from January 4, alongside the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that was approved earlier this year.
“This is very good news for accelerating the deployment of vaccines. It brings us to the day when we can return to our normal life,” he said. Sky News.
“This new variant of the virus is really difficult to deal with … But luckily the cavalry came with not one but two vaccines. We have to get them into people’s arms as quickly as they can be produced.”
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To contact the author of this story with comments or news, email Emily Nicolle
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