Coronavirus deaths in Welsh region of Gwent ‘mirror Italy’ as it becomes UK’s worst hotspot outside London
CORONAVIRUS deaths in Gwent, South Wales, are "mirroring Italy" - sparking fears the NHS could be overwhelmed by the pandemic.
Gwent has so far recorded 358 cases - the highest concentration of confirmed infections per 100,000 people outside London, reports.
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The region has even recorded almost half of Wales's 729 cases.
Sarah Aitken, the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's director of public health, that Gwent's rising numbers were extremely concerning.
She said: "In Gwent we are seeing a rapidly rising increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in the community, the number of people being admitted to hospital and the number of people dying of the virus.
"The pattern we are seeing in Gwent is the same pattern seen in Italy where their healthcare system is now overwhelmed.
"Without a huge effort by all of us we are heading to the moments where our health service will be overwhelmed too."
It comes as...
- A GP is feared to be the first British doctor to die after contracting coronavirus
- A 16-year-old girl with no underlying medical conditions died from the bug in France
- The UK daily coronavirus death toll soared past 100 for the first time – with a victim killed every 13 minutes
- Official figures released today showed the pandemic had claimed 578 lives in Britain, up 113 from the previous total
- The US now has the most cases in the world
Italy - which recently overtook Wuhan China, as the worst hit country by coronavirus - has more than 74,000 cases across the country.
The country has recorded 1,190 cases per million people with health services overwhelmed.
The UK death toll yesterday hit more than 500 with more than 11,000 cases overall.
And yesterday, the daily death toll in the UK soared past 100 for the first time – with a victim killed every 13 minutes.
It came as NHS head Sir Simon Stevens warned it faced the biggest challenge since World War Two.
He said today: “I don’t think in the history of the NHS there’s been anything quite like it.
“The nearest parallel I can think of is the way the London hospitals and emergency services came together in the Second World War.”
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London has recorded the highest number of deaths, with 184 by Thursday.
The Midlands has also been named as a hotspot for coronavirus, with the deaths accounting for almost 20 per cent of fatalities in the UK.
The tragic deaths have since been linked to a church where two worshippers died.
Meanwhile, it emerged that analysis of the first 386 UK Covid-19 deaths found 98 per cent had underlying health conditions.
Public Health England Medical Director Professor Yvonne Doyle told the Commons’ Health Committee: “At the moment it is very rare for people to die who do not have some other conditions.”
NHS bosses also launched an urgent review of protective kit for front-line staff amid fears they are spreading the virus.
Lockdown measures have been in place just this week, with authorities warning Brits could face another six months.
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Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer, said that social distancing restrictions enforced earlier this week are helping to move the country "in the right direction".
But she told a Downing Street press briefing last night that some of the measures could remain in place for six months.
Asked when we might expect the virus to peak, she said: "I’m not going to predict an exact timing for that.
"The reason is we are only just starting to see a bite in the interventions in social distancing that have been put into place.
"It would be far too early to predict that."
