London, Jan. 2, (dpa/GNA) – An association of doctors in Britain on Friday warned that hospital staff are reaching their limits as the numbers of patients infected with the coronavirus continues to rise.
“We are very much at battle stations,” Adrian Boyle, the vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the BBC broadcaster. “There is a real worry about burnout.”
“The people who go into emergency medicine expect it to be tough from time to time,” Boyle said. However, doctors and nurses are tired, frustrated and worn down, as are others in the sector.
He urged the public to follow the government’s guidelines to prevent the virus from spreading further.
The country is battling with a continued high rate of infections, and on Friday, the authorities reported more than 53,000 new cases of the virus and 613 deaths.
So far, the country has announced a death toll of more than 82,000 since the pandemic began.
Concern is rising, however, as a new and more transmissible strain spreads through the country, particularly in London and the south.
Emergency hospitals are already being prepared as intensive care units in London and beyond are full to capacity.
But there are fears that not enough medical staff are available to work in the new facilities, Mike Adams, the England director of the Royal College of Nursing, told broadcaster Sky News.
While more than 1 million people have already received the vaccine, according to the Health Ministry, it is likely to take months before the inoculation campaign brings any relief to the situation.
GNA