Intensive care beds in hospitals in England are not busier than other years, according to leaked National Health Service documents, raising doubts that the country needs another lockdown.
“As you can see, our current position in October is exactly where we have been in the last five years,” an NHS source told the Telegraph.
At the peak of the coronavirus in April, critical care beds were never more than 80% full. After temporary hospitals were closed in the country, there was still a 15% capacity, which is typical, according to the outlet.
The documents show there were 9,138 patients in hospitals in England as of Nov. 2 and has since fallen to 9,077. Coronavirus patients account for 10% of general and acute beds, with more than 13,000 beds still open.
“This is completely in line with what is normally available at this time of year,” director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford Carl Heneghan said.
“What I don’t understand is that I seem to be looking at a different dataset to what the Government is presenting,” he added.
“Everything is looking at normal levels, and free bed capacity is still significant, even in high dependency units and intensive care, even though we have a very small number across the board. We are starting to see a drop in people in hospitals,” he said.
“Tier 3 restrictions are working phenomenally well, and rather than locking down, I would be using this moment to increase capacity.”
Doctors Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty warned last week that bed usage would be maxed out come Nov. 20, with extra beds being filled days later.
“But the leaked documents also show that no intensive care units are in Covid-19 Pandemic Critcon levels above two, and the majority are at 0, meaning they are operating as normal,” the Telegraph explained.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last week that new lockdowns will be implemented this week, lasting until Dec. 2.
“We must act now to contain the autumn surge,” Johnson said.
