NHS under pressure from new Covid wave across England, says Chris Whitty

Increasing numbers of people needing hospital treatment for coronavirus, says chief medical officer

The NHS is coming under significant" pressure amid a rise in Covid cases in virtually every area of England, the chief medical officer has warned, with hospitalisations likely to continue increasing at least until April.

Prof Chris Whitty said the mounting numbers of people becoming infected was likely to be largely driven by the new Omicron variant, BA.2. The sharp resurgence of the coronavirus underlined that the crisis is not over", Whitty added.