In U.K. Hospitals, a Desperate Battle Against a Threat Many Saw Coming
Hospitals are straining to cope with a new coronavirus variant, despite warnings last year that more preparations were needed for an expected surge of cases in the winter.
Transporting a patient outside the Royal London Hospital this month. Britain now has nearly 40,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, almost double last year’s peak.Credit...Matt Dunham/Associated Press
Published Jan. 21, 2021Updated Jan. 22, 2021
LONDON — As a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus pounds Britain’s overstretched National Health Service, health care workers say the government’s failure to anticipate a wintertime crush of infections has left them resorting to ever more desperate measures.