Get our daily coronavirus email newsletter with all the news you need to know direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

London hospitals risk being overwhelmed "in days" by a "tsunami' of cases, a senior NHS chief has warned.

The chief executive of NHS Providers - which represents hospital and ambulance trusts - said hospitals in the capital are facing an "explosion" in demand at the same time as an unprecedented number of staff are sick or in self-isolation.

Branding it a "wicked combination", Chris Hopson said: "It’s the number of patients that are arriving, the speed with which they’re arriving and how ill they are.

"They talk about wave after wave after wave. The word often used to me is a continuous tsunami."

Mr Hopson's verdict was more bleak than that of other medical experts.

Prof Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, led modelling warning of 250,000 deaths which prompted the UK's stricter lockdown. He told the BBC surge capacity may not be breached.

Coronavirus deaths and cases across the world County, deaths, cases Mainland China 3,237, 80,873 Italy 2,941, 31,506 Iran 988, 16,169 Spain 533, 11,826 Germany 26, 9,367 South Korea 84, 8,413 France 175, 7,730 United States 109, 6,469 Switzerland 27, 2,742 United Kingdom 71, 1,950 Netherlands 43, 1,705 Japan 36, 1,614 Norway 3, 1,470 Austria 4, 1,332 Belgium 10, 1,243 Sweden 8, 1,196 Denmark 4, 977 Malaysia 2, 673 Canada 8, 598 Australia 5, 452 Portugal 1, 448 Qatar 0, 442 Czech Republic 0, 434 Greece 5, 387 Brazil 1, 346 Israel 0, 337 Finland 0, 322 Ireland 2, 292 Slovenia 1, 275 Singapore 0, 266 Iceland 0, 247 Pakistan 1, 247 Bahrain 1, 241 Poland 5, 238 Estonia 0, 225 Romania 0, 217 Chile 0, 201 Egypt 6, 196 Philippines 14, 187 Thailand 1, 177 Indonesia 7, 172 Saudi Arabia 0, 171 Hong Kong 4, 168 Iraq 11, 154 India 3, 143 Luxembourg 1, 140 Kuwait 0, 130 Lebanon 4, 124 San Marino 11, 119 Peru 0, 117 Russia 0, 114 UAE 0, 113 Ecuador 2, 111 Turkey 1, 98 Slovakia 0, 97 South Africa 0, 85 Mexico 0, 82 Bulgaria 2, 81 Argentina 2, 79 Armenia 0, 78 Taiwan 1, 77 Serbia 0, 72 Croatia 0, 69 Panama 1, 69 Vietnam 0, 66 Colombia 0, 65 Algeria 5, 61 Latvia 0, 60 Brunei 0, 56 Albania 1, 55 Costa Rica 0, 50 Hungary 1, 50 Uruguay 0, 50 Cyprus 0, 49 Faroe Islands 0, 47 Morocco 1, 44 Palestinian Territories 0, 44 Sri Lanka 0, 44 Jordan 0, 42 Andorra 0, 39 Malta 0, 38 Senegal 0, 37 Belarus 0, 36 Azerbaijan 1, 34 Bosnia 0, 34 Georgia 0, 34 Oman 0, 33 Kazakhstan 0, 33 Venezuela 0, 33 North Macedonia 0, 31 Moldova 0, 30 Lithuania 0, 26 Tunisia 0, 25 Afghanistan 0, 22 Cambodia 0, 21 Dominican Republic 1, 21 New Zealand 0, 20 Liechtenstein 0, 19 Burkina Faso 0, 15 Martinique 1, 15 Jamaica 0, 15 Ukraine 2, 14 Macau 0, 13 Maldives 0, 13 Bolivia 0, 12 French Guiana 0, 11 Uzbekistan 0, 11 Bangladesh 0, 10 Cameroon 0, 10 Guatemala 1, 8 Guyana 1, 7 Cayman Islands 1, 1 Sudan 1, 1

Prof Ferguson said: "We think overall, with the capacity which is rapidly being put in place across the country, whilst the health system will be intensely stressed particularly in areas of London, it won't break.

"That we will have enough surge capacity overall of the country to cope with the rapidly growing epidemic we're seeing at the moment."

Mr Hopson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme staff were working on a five- to seven-fold increase in critical care capacity, something never done before.

But he warned extra capacity “is now being used up very very quickly”, saying: "Most of them are hanging on, they’re all hanging on, and we know we’ve got the surge capacity in the Excel centre, but this is filling up very quickly."

(Image: PA)

When should you call NHS 111? Those experiencing coronavirus symptoms, such as a cough or fever, should self-isolate for seven days. You should stay at home if you or or anyone in your household has a high temperature or a new and continuous cough - even if it's mild. Everyone in your household must stay at home for 14 days and keep away from others as it can take 14 days for them to appear.

DO NOT go to your GP or hospital.

Go to NHS.UK to check your symptoms and follow the specialist medical advice.

Only call 111 if you can't get online, you feel like you can't cope at home, or your symptoms do not get better after the seven days.

If you are pregnant you should call 111 if you have any concerns about yourself or unborn baby during self-isolation.

Pregnant women are advised to contact their midwife, out-of-hours helplines or a maternity team who will provide information on whether you need to go to hospital.

A 4,000-bed field hospital called 'Nightingale' is being built in the Excel which is a large exhibition hall in London's Docklands.

Last night Mr Hopson tweeted: "London trust CEOs incredibly proud of how much has been done, how quickly, to clear space/create capacity but they're concerned about how quickly this extra capacity is now filling up.

"Preparation/planning has been incredibly helpful but size of demand surge is off the scale.

"It's evident that a number of hospitals are on a trajectory where their critical care capacity will become full within a few days.

"CEOs report that the NHS London Regional team is working well, and hard, with them to agree the next steps to follow when this happens.

"In the face of this demand hospital, ambulance, mental health and community services have been adapting rapidly to do the very best they can in the circumstances.

"Lots of good innovative solutions to provide best possible care given the enormous challenge being faced."

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

(Image: EPA-EFE/REX)

NHS Providers describes itself as the membership organisation for the NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services that treat patients and service users in the NHS.

Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, insisted he believes the health system has the capacity to cope and that the lockdown will lead to a "plateau" of case numbers.

He added: "So we are going to have a very difficult few weeks, particularly in hotspots - London for instance.

"But we think, overall, with the capacity which is rapidly being put in place across the country, that whilst the health system will be intensely stressed, particularly in areas of London, it won't break.

"Perhaps in about three weeks we hope these current measures will start flattening that curve and start bringing numbers down."