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London Mayor Declares 'Major Incident,' COVID-19 'Out of Control'

London Mayor Declares 'Major Incident,' COVID-19 'Out of Control'
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan makes a statement to media at New Scotland Yard on Sept. 25, 2020, in London, England. (Victoria Jones - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

By    |   Friday, 08 January 2021 10:06 PM EST

London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a ''major incident'' in the British capital on Friday, saying the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is ''out of control'' and pleading with residents to ''stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave."

Hospitalizations rose 27% between Dec. 30 and Jan. 6 in the city, Reuters reported, and there have been 477 reported deaths of patients with the novel coronavirus in the past three days.

"The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control," Khan said. "One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could be overwhelmed and more people will die."

Khan’s declaration of the city in a crisis comes less than a month after British officials identified a more virulent strain of the virus that is more easily transmissible.

"We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point," 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."

A major incident is ''an event or situation with a range of serious consequences which requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency responder agency,'' according to Britain’s Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).

London defines it as ''beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security.''

Officials in the southern England municipalities of Bournemouth and Sandbanks declared a "major incident" in late June after thousands of people flocked to local beaches.

Despite officials advising people to stay away, the areas were inundated with cars and sunbathers, leading to gridlock, illegal parking and drunken and disorderly behavior. More than 40 tons of trash had to be removed from the coastline.

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a ''major incident'' in the British capital on Friday, saying the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is ''out of control'' and pleading with residents to ''stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to...
london, covid, majorincident
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2021-06-08
Friday, 08 January 2021 10:06 PM
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