The Mayor of London has declared a critical incident at the capital’s hospitals amid the rising number of patients being admitted with Covid-19.

Sadiq Khan made the emergency declaration to fast-track national help for the NHS, which he said was on the verge of being overwhelmed and running out of beds.

He said the virus was ‘out of control’ in the capital and ordered Londoners to stick to the rules and not mix indoors over the weekend.

He said: ‘We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

‘If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.’

The number of patients in London hospitals grew by 27% (from 5,524 to 7,034) between December 30 and January 6, while the number of people on ventilators grew by 42 %.

Over the last three days alone the NHS has announced 477 deaths in London hospitals following a positive test for Covid-19.

The London Ambulance Service is now taking up to 8,000 emergency calls a day, compared to 5,500 on a typical busy day.

Mayor Khan said: ‘The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control.

‘The number of cases in London has increased rapidly with more than a third more patients being treated in our hospitals now compared to the peak of the pandemic last April.

‘Our heroic doctors, nurses and NHS staff are doing an amazing job, but with cases rising so rapidly, our hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed.

‘The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically. ‘

Major incidents have been called previously for the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, the terror attacks at Westminster Bridge and London Bridge and the Croydon tram crash in November 2016.

It allows for special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency responder agency.

On in 30 Londoners now have coronavirus.

Mayor Khan said: ‘Londoners continue to make huge sacrifices and I am today imploring them to please stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave. Stay at home to protect yourself, your family, friends and other Londoners and to protect our NHS.’

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