London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a state of emergency in connection with the increase in the number of cases of the omicron strain of COVID-19, which could cause the city’s hospitals to be overwhelmed with patients in the very near future, Sky News reports.
“After consulting with experts, I made the decision to declare a state of emergency [in the city],” Khan said.
He stressed that in the capital of Great Britain in recent days “there has been an increase in the number of hospitalizations infected with the coronavirus.”
Against this background, protests against coronavirus restrictions are taking place in Parliament Square, London. The demonstrators demanded the abolition of vaccination passports and the obligation to wear masks in public places. Law enforcement officers use batons against them.
Earlier, Britain’s chief medical officer for health, Professor Chris Whitty, said that the omicron coronavirus strain would quickly peak in spread, but also decline rapidly.
He noted that the new COVID-19 strain will peak in the near future, but after that, the doubling rate of infection will slow soon enough.