VIRUS CRISIS
Bodies kept in temporary morgues as hospital mortuaries FULL after surge in Covid deaths
BODIES are being stored in temporary morgues across the country as hospital mortuaries reach full capacity.
Emergency facilities have been set up in Surrey, London, Kent and Lincolnshire following a surge in coronavirus deaths.
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Some 170 bodies are being kept in a temporary mortuary at Headley Court in Leatherhead, Surrey, as deaths rise in the area.
Another tented facility, which can hold 953 bodies, has also re-opened in west London.
And Kent County Council confirmed it put a temporary site back to use on New Year's Day, providing space to store 950 bodies if needed.
The tented mortuary in Surrey opened in April last year to ease the pressures of the first wave of the pandemic.
And more than half of those now being kept there died with coronavirus, a Surrey Local Resilience Forum spokesman said.
Chair of Surrey’s Local Resilience Forum, Steve Owen-Hughes said: “Hospital mortuary space is under huge pressure as we see the impact of Covid-related deaths on top of regular winter pressures.
"A temporary mortuary facility has been set up by Surrey’s Local Resilience Forum on the site of the former military hospital at Headley Court in Leatherhead.
"This facility is helping to relieve pressure on hospitals and ensure that bodies are handled appropriately and sensitively."
Surrey currently has one of the highest infection rates in the country.
Fire and police officers have been drafted in to help, some brought back from retirement to help collect dead bodies from hospital mortuaries.
'REAL DIFFICULTY'
Their temporary resting space has been operating in a limited capacity throughout the summer and early autumn.
It was stood up again in November 2020 as the numbers of deaths across the county began to rise.
Between April and June last year the temporary mortuary facility dealt with 700 bodies.
Since December 21, it has dealt with almost 300 - a figure which continues to rise.
The county's hospital mortuaries have the capacity to store 600 bodies but are currently full, while the temporary facility has room for 845.
A spokesperson for the Surrey Local Resilience Forum said the county would be left in "real difficulty" if the 1,400 capacity is exceeded in the coming weeks.
He said: "To put some perspective on this, during the first wave, they had 700 bodies go through that (temporary) facility.
"The first wave lasted approximately 12 weeks from mid-March to mid-May.
"Since December 21, after just two-and-a-half weeks, they have had 300 bodies go through it."
BREAKING POINT
It comes as the number of patients with Covid-19 in hospitals reached a record high in England, with NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens declaring the situation "incredibly serious".
He said last week there were now more hospital inpatients in every region in England than back in April, the peak of the first wave.
And the number of inpatients are "accelerating very, very rapidly", he warned, adding the pressures on the NHS are "real and growing".
Key figures within the NHS have said there is a "potential risk" people will be unable to get an ambulance in their time of need, if pressure on the health service continues to increase.
Many hospitals have been forced to take a dangerous detour from the usual gold standard care already - abandoning one to one care and instead enlisting one nurse to four patients.
And the culmination of rising cases, dwindling staff numbers and low morale is set to be a perfect storm to completely exhaust the UK's healthcare system.
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More than 80,000 people have now died from coronavirus in Britain, with cases rising by more than 50,000 every day last week.
Deaths also continued to rise at a rapid rate, exceeding the figures seen at the peak of the first wave.
Tighter Covid restrictions are reportedly being considered as a result of the surge, with ministers fearing the public is not adhering to lockdown rules as strictly as they should be.
A ban on exercising with one person outside of your household and wearing face coverings in offices are among the rules which could be reviewed.
Meanwhile, there are reports even support bubbles could be stopped amid surging cases - while people could be told they can only leave their homes once a week.
It comes as hundreds more GP-led, hospital vaccination hubs and the first pharmacy-led pilot sites will open from today — taking the total to around 1,200 in England.
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Vaccine appointment letters will be sent out to everyone aged 80 or over who live up to a 45-minute drive from one of the new centres.
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The sites include the ExCel centre in East London, Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium and Manchester’s Etihad tennis club.
It means that by the end of the week, more than half the 3.2million population of over-80s will have received their first jab.
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