More than 100 east London Covid patients died last week

The two NHS trusts that run the majority of hospitals in north east London have so far confirmed that 124 patients who tested positive for Covid died between January 4 and 10.

At King George Hospital in Ilford and Queen’s Hospital in Romford, both run by the same trust, 56 patients over the course of the week.

At the five hospitals run by Barts Health NHS Trust, which includes Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, 68 patients died.

The two trusts - Barts and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) - also retroactively confirmed that 145 patients who died in previous weeks had the virus.

This means the total number of Covid-related deaths at the seven hospitals confirmed last week is 269.

Read more: Rapid Covid testing for asymptomatic people to be rolled out

The situation at BHRUT’s two hospitals is now so severe that, on December 21, the trust was forced to postpone all non-urgent care.

The number of confirmed cases being reported daily in Redbridge has dwarfed the pandemic’s first wave in April. It is not known how much of this disparity is due to the availability of tests.

Yesterday (January 10), more than 600 Redbridge residents tested positive for Covid-19.

On the same day, 383 Havering residents tested positive, as well as 416 Waltham Forest residents.

Read more: Major incident declared in London due to Covid-19 spread

On January 8, Redbridge Council leader Cllr Jas Athwal said the situation in London was “dire”, with health and emergency teams “at breaking point”.

Responding to London Mayor Sadiq Khan';s declaration of a “major incident”, he said: “Unless we truly understand that we are all in this together, we face more deaths, more tragedy, and an even longer battle for economic recovery.

“We all must please play our part to stop the spread and support the heroes and heroines of our NHS and emergency services as they put their lives on the line to support us.

“There is no silver bullet when it comes to fighting this virus, only by working together will we overcome the pandemic and get some semblance of normality back into our lives.

“This means clear leadership, direction and financial support from Government; a continuing joined-up approach at community grassroots level; and everyone following the public health guidance to stay home and only go out for essential reasons as set out in the guidance.”

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