The number of coronavirus fatalities worldwide has surpassed 200,000, according the latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University. The rise comes after the UK reported more than 900 deaths in the last week of April 2020, becoming the fifth country to record more than 20,000 after the US, Italy, Spain, and France.
The capacities of the health systems are under pressure worldwide. In the UK the intensive care units have been struggling to meet the influx of coronavirus patients in spite of severe staff shortages. Stuart Franklin has been working closely with West Middlesex University Hospital in west London (one of the city’s busiest hospitals) since the beginning of the pandemic. He witnesses the daily work of the hospital: doctors, nurses and patients.
Here are his images from this week where Stuart’s latest report begins: "When Dr Mohamed El-Askary, A&E clinical director at West Middlesex University Hospital, in west London, arrived for work for the morning handover on April 27 he was told that there was only one patient in the department. Three weeks earlier, in one of the most demanding stretches of his career, he’d received ten “blue light” ambulances in a single hour – all offloading breathless COVID-19 patients. (…) "


Stuart text is also available to license.

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