Covid: Consultant says case numbers 'worse than predicted'

An intensive care consultant has said the number of coronavirus cases "looks worse than even gloom-mongers like me had feared".

Richard Cree has been keeping a blog of life in the unit at Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital.

In 'There Are No More Surgeons he wrote about 93 patients in hospital at the weekend, with "significant numbers" being ventilated in intensive care.

The prime minister said the lockdown was to stop the NHS being overwhelmed.

His latest post said that when government's leading scientists presented the worst-case scenario in September, growth of cases was low and deaths even lower.

"As a result, most people refused to believe such a prophecy," he wrote.

"It turns out that everyone was wrong and that the situation looks much worse than even gloom-mongers like me had feared."

He added that the number of coronavirus patients in the hospital was "having a worsening effect on the hospital's ability to function normally" and some surgery has had to be suspended.

"This disruption is likely to continue for the rest of the week.

"However, the organisation continues to do its utmost to ensure that most surgery will continue as normal and there is to be no disruption to urgent and emergency operations."

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