Dr. Alex George says the NHS won’t be able to “cope” if four in five people are diagnosed with coronavirus
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The former Love Island star works in the Accident and Emergency department at University Hospital, Lewisham, south London, and at the moment he “can easily cope” with testing around eight patients per shift for the virus – also known as Covid-19, which has killed more than 8,000 worldwide – but he admitted “the pressure will be on” if 50 to 60 a day need testing on his shift.
He said:
‘I’ve been testing around eight patients a shift – and the NHS can easily cope with that level, but if we start seeing 50 or 60 a day, the pressure will be on’.
Alex also admitted whole wards may have to be put into quarantine if the outbreak worsens.
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He added to The Sun Online:
‘In our A&E department, we only have one isolation room for infectious diseases, with one bed, not the 15 or 20 beds you might imagine.
‘If numbers rise, we would have to quarantine whole wards.
‘At the moment, frontline staff are being offered extra shifts and I know some who are working seven days a week.
‘In the short term, you can do that. If this was going to be around for a month, everyone could take on a couple of extra shifts.
‘But this looks like it will be around a good few months and it’s very difficult to sustain that over a period of time, as it becomes unsafe for people to work.
‘If this carries on for a long time, fatigue and stress will set in.
‘If over the next six months, one in five people have it we can deal with it. But if four in five people catch it, the NHS simply can’t cope’.
However, Alex admitted morale is “good at the moment”, and he is pleased the government have pledged more money to fight the virus.
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