London

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London warned on Friday that coronavirus situation was 'critical' as UK's National Health Service was hard pressed to contain the pandemic situation. News reports even said that NHS was at the risk of being overwhelmed.

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Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that more people would die unless urgent steps were taken.

His comments came on the same day UK reported a record 1,325 coronavirus deaths over 24 hours.

Number of COVID cases in London has already exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people.

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'Exhausted'

The NHS head said there were 50 percent more Covid patients in hospitals now than during the April peak. 

Some 10,000 more coronavirus patients have been hospitalised since December 25 alone, the equivalent of 20 acute-care hospitals.

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"Staff are exhausted," said Lindsey Izard, matron of the general intensive care unit at St George's Hospital in London. "The worry is that we haven't probably reached the peak yet."

The sharp rise has forced hospital bosses to consider shifting some in-patients to beds in nursing homes or care homes, said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals in England.

But the health ministry signalled possible relief by announcing that two "live-saving" Covid treatments would be made available for patients in intensive care.

The drugs -- tocilizumab and sarilumab -- have been shown to reduce risk of death by 24 percent for critically ill patients, and cut the time spent in intensive care by up to 10 days, it said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock called the deployment of the drugs, normally used for rheumatoid arthritis, a "landmark development". Johnson said they could save thousands of lives.

(With AFP inputs)