Over 26,000 new cases of covid in London alone as ‘major incident’ declared

The mayor of London has declared a major incident in the capital over the “huge surge” of Omicron cases and an increase in hospital admissions.

Sadiq Khan said he has been meeting with colleagues from the NHS, councils and the fire service about the rise in infections of the COVID variant, with more than 10,000 new cases reported nationwide today.

While no new measures have been announced, he said: “In the last 24 hours, we have had the largest number of new cases since the pandemic began, more than 26,000.

“Hospital admissions are going up but also staff absences are going up by massive levels, so I have taken the decision, along with our partners, to declare a major incident.”

Latest figures showed there were 1,534 COVID patients in hospital across London on 17 December – a rise of 341, or 28.6%, compared with a week earlier when there were 1,193.

Across the UK, 7,611 people are in hospital with the virus, a rise of 163 patients (2%) on the previous week.