Dr Daniele Bryden, of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, said that the crisis in critical care was extremely serious . One in five large hospitals in England has no spare intensive care beds.
Scotland has a record number in hospital and in Northern Ireland the system is facing huge pressure as it braces for the peak.
The number of new infections announced yesterday in Scotland is 412 below the 1,753 announced on Saturday and is the lowest since December 28 – although there tend to be fewer cases recorded at the weekend.
But the number of patients continues to reach record levels – increasing daily since Christmas Day, when there were 973 people in hospital.