COVID-19: UK NHS hits the highest alarm.

LONDON

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will go on high alert from midnight for a “serious situation,” Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said at a news conference Wednesday.

The move to the highest level of supervision will go unnoticed by ordinary citizens when using health services, but behind the scenes the NHS governing body will take over to ensure the organization is functioning as intended.

NHS England was last at level 4, the highest alert level, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and returned to a level in July.

Steven said there were “22 hospitals” of coronavirus patients in England and that in October there was a “very significant” increase in “seriously ill patients” in hospitals.

“In many parts of the country we are seeing more coronavirus patients admitted to hospital and ICU than the first peak in April,” he said.

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The purpose of the NHS was to “minimize” the virus that was “getting out of control”.

“The facts are clear, we are facing another serious situation,” he said.

“This is not a situation that anyone would have wanted to be in, the worst pandemic in a century, but the fact is, the NHS is here.”

Stevens added that the UK should “hope” to get at least one coronavirus vaccine early next year and that the NHS will prepare for its introduction.

“In anticipation of this, we are also preparing the NHS to be ready to start administering COVID vaccines before Christmas if they are available,” he said.

“We have an agreement with primary care physicians to make sure they do and will be writing to primary care doctors this week to prepare them for launch by Christmas when the vaccine is available.”