A care home in Sussex lost half of its residents to Covid-19 over the festive period, according to Guardian reports.
Thirteen of the 27 residents at Edendale Lodge care home in Crowhurst died with confirmed or suspected Covid since 13 December.
The operation’s managing director Adam Hutchison warned the facilities have become like “sitting ducks” as cases in the country soar, saying the virus is “just unstoppable”.
Scientists advising the Government believe there are currently more than 100,000 new infections per day and possibly higher than 150,000.
They believe this estimate puts the current number of daily cases at a higher level than during the first wave of the pandemic.
With the current lockdown and vaccine rollout, deaths from coronavirus are expected to start dropping in February, while hospital admissions should drop after that.
Coronavirus cases are expected to drop in the spring due to vaccination plus the fact people spend more time outdoors, making it harder for the virus to spread.
On Tuesday, Essex county council banned all visits to care homes in its area, citing “the growing number of outbreaks in care homes and the difficulty in controlling these outbreaks”.
The Kent Integrated Care Alliance, which represents care homes in its area, is also warning of deaths and care worker absences, emotional and mental exhaustion among care workers and a threat to the viability of care homes themselves.
Many care homes are frustrated that vaccines are yet to be deployed to residents. Boris Johnson told parliament on Wednesday he wanted the programme to be accelerated and that 10 per cent of care home residents and 14 per cent of care home staff had so far received the vaccine.
“That clearly needs to be stepped up,” the PM said.
Related: London mayor declares ‘major incident’ with coronavirus spread ‘out of control’
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