An ambulance passes St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty
An ambulance passes St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty
An ambulance passes St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty
An ambulance passes St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty

British hospitals struggle to find spaces for Covid-19 patients


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

British hospitals have been cancelling non-urgent procedures and rushing to find space for Covid-19 patients as cases continue to surge.

Another 41,385 confirmed cases were recorded across the UK on Monday, despite tough new restrictions to curb a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus.

It was the first time the daily figure reported there surpassed 40,000, although more tests are being performed now than earlier in the pandemic.

Emergency physician Dr Adrian Boyle, from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said ambulances “keep coming in”.

“You have a sense of helplessness when you can’t offload it because your emergency department is full,” Dr Boyle said.

British authorities are blaming a new variant of the coronavirus for soaring infection rates in London and south-east England.

They say the new version is more easily transmitted than the original, but emphasise there is no evidence that it makes people more ill.

A paramedic moves a stretcher at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty
A paramedic moves a stretcher at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Getty

In response, authorities have put part of England under “Tier 4” rules, requiring non-essential shops to close, barring indoor socialising and permitting pubs and restaurants to operate only for takeaways.

About 24 million people live in the area affected by the restrictions.

Even so, hospital admissions for Covid-19 in south-east England are approaching or exceeding the levels seen at the first peak of the outbreak.

For the UK as a whole, government figures show 21,286 people were admitted to hospital on December 22, the most recent day for which data is available.

That is only slightly below the record high of 21,683.

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Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.

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MEN

Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)

T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)

ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)

Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)

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Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)

ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)

T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)