"The situation in London is now critical, with the virus spreading out of control," warns the mayor of London, who calls for a coordinated response from public services.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday declared a "major incident", involving a coordinated public service response, in the British capital where the novel coronavirus is "out of control" and where hospitals are at risk of being "submerged".

>> LIVE

 - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Friday January 8

"The situation in London is now critical, with the virus spreading out of control," the Labor official said in a statement.

"We will run out of beds in the next two weeks if the spread of the virus does not slow down drastically," he continued, calling for increased support from the government.

"If we don't act immediately, our national health service could be overwhelmed and more people will die," he added.

One in 30 people are infected in London

According to the press release, the number of contaminations exceeds 1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants in the city, where 7,034 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, or 35% more than during the peak of the first wave in April.

Among them, 908 were placed on a respirator (+ 42% between December 30 and January 6).

Over the past three days, 477 people who tested positive have died in London hospitals.

"There are currently around 830 admissions per day in London hospitals, against around 500 before Christmas, and they could continue to increase over the next two weeks," said the same source.

>> READ ALSO

- Coronavirus: why France struggles to monitor the English variant

Citing information communicated by the public health service in England to hospital officials, the medical journal Health Service Journal indicated that even if the number of patients increased according to the most optimistic projections, there would be a shortage of 2,000 general and intensive care beds in London hospitals by January 19.

On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than 1.12 million people were infected with the virus in England last week, or one in 50 inhabitants, and even one in 30 in London.