No Covid-19 deaths for 48 hours at 11 hospitals in London

More than half of London hospitals have not recorded a coronavirus death in 48 hours and three have reported none in more than a week, it can be revealed.

Eleven of the capital’s 18 main NHS trusts — including Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and University College London Hospitals — reported no deaths of patients with Covid-19 over the weekend.

There have been no deaths reported by North Middlesex hospital since May 20, by the Whittington since May 19 and by the Hillingdon since May 13.

The analysis of NHS England figures, by Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Jason Oke, of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, show that London’s death rate is declining more quickly than the rest of the country.

The capital’s hospitals have been adapting their care to ensure people with other conditions continue to be treated — including a 25-year-old woman who was saved from “locked-in syndrome” after suffering a stroke.

Loren Dixon had a thrombectomy at Queen’s hospital, in Romford, to remove a blood clot in the basilar artery of her brain. She was able to walk out of hospital several days later after making a full recovery.

Ms Dixon was exercising in the garden at home near Grays, Essex, when she felt she’d pulled a muscle in her neck.

She said: “When the doctor explained to me that some people who have this form of stroke can only move their eyelids afterwards, it was really scary. The speed at which the doctors acted saved my life and I’m so grateful.”

“Because of Covid-19, a hospital was the last place I wanted to be so when the paramedics said I had to be taken in, I felt a sense of dread,” Ms Dixon added. “But it wasn’t scary at all.”

Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trust, which runs Queen’s Hospital, is transferring cancer and trauma patients to two private “Covid-free” hospitals to ensure patients continue to receive care.

At St Bartholomew’s, a new screening programme has been implemented for patients requiring urgent cardiac care and more than 170 patients have been treated.

Patients self-isolate for a fortnight at home and are checked 24 to 48 hours before admission for symptoms. They are tested on admission to hospital and wear a surgical mask during the procedure. No one has yet tested positive.

Downing Street said yesterday there were 780 people with Covid-19 being treated in London hospitals, the lowest figure recorded since data was first recorded on March 20.

Six people died in London hospitals on Saturday, taking the total to 69 for the last seven days, according to City Hall. The total number of coronavirus deaths in London hospitals is 5,947.

The number of laboratory-confirmed cases in London has risen by only 110 in the last week to 26,968, according to Public Health England.

Critics say the true rate of new cases is more likely to be about 800 a day.

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