200 military personnel will join health workers
Britain will deploy troops to hospitals in London to alleviate severe staff shortages caused by the Omi-cron outbreak, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Friday.
Around 200 armed forces personnel will join health workers in the capital, which has been par-ticularly badly hit by the recent upsurge in coronavi-rus cases leading to mass staff absences in hospitals.
“The men and women of our armed forces are once again stepping up to support their dedicated colleagues in the NHS (National Health Service) as they work hand-in-hand to protect the nation from CVOID-19,” said Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
“They have shown their worth time and again throughout this pandemic, whether driving ambu-lances, administering vaccines or supporting pa-tients in hospital, and they should be proud of their contribution to this truly national effort.”
The deployment will include 40 military medics and 160 general duty personnel, said the ministry.
Britain on Tuesday recorded 218,724 daily cases of the virus, the highest figure since the pan-demic started.
Although deaths and patients requiring ventila-tors have remained steady, the sheer number of health staff testing positive for the virus and having to self-isolate is putting pressure on the system.—AFP
