It is December 28th which sounds like a no news day. The BBC website’s top story is that hospitals are under increasing strain from Covid-19
On Sunday, some 30,501 infections and 316 deaths were recorded in the UK.
But the true scale of cases is likely to be higher as Scotland is not releasing data around deaths between 24 and 28 December, while Northern Ireland is not providing either case or death data over the same period.
There were 21,286 people in hospital with coronavirus across the UK on December 22 – the last day for which data is available – according to official government figures.
It seems that even the scrupulous statisticians have said “enough”! The news can wait till we have digested and worked off the last 2000 calories of Christmas day.
Ambulances are everywhere
I’ve pulled a calf muscle so have stopped running and am now whizzing across the capital on Santander (Boris) bikes. Which means spending time counting ambulances which are numerous in my neck of woods (central London being a hospital hot spot). I was getting blasé about blue lights and sirens but then I read this…
Figures seen by the BBC show at one London hospital on Sunday morning, ambulance crews were typically waiting nearly six hours to hand over patients to staff. One paramedic told the BBC that some patients had been treated in ambulance bays because of a shortage of beds.
“It’s been a horrendous time,” the paramedic said. “Ambulance staff are finding the whole situation very stressful.”
Those on the frontline of the NHS, aren’t getting much of a Christmas. They haven’t had much of a year and we aren’t clapping anymore.
And while we revel..
It’s cold today, there is sleet in the rain, there is ice on the roads and down the embankment, the tented villages of the homeless give scant shelter to those in their sleeping bags. Elsewhere there are people who have no bag – who have not found their way to a Crisis shelter, who have no place in a hostel. These are the most vulnerable people in our capital. Thanks to people like my friends Matty and Jo, the homeless on this bitterly cold day , there is a little more support for them from a stretched health system.
Charities like Crisis and Streets of London make a difference and while we may not be ready or able to help the helpless directly, we can support them by making a donation.
Donate to Crisis here
