Corona in the UK: Premier Johnson under pressure

Coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in the United Kingdom. The health system is on the brink of collapse and critics have since accused the government of reacting too late and too loosely to the outbreak.

London (dpa) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure due to significant shortcomings in the fight against the corona pandemic.

According to the British Medical Association, the clinic and general practitioners lack equipment such as masks and disposable gloves. Nurses had reported that they had to take care of patients without protection.

As the medical organization Royal College of Physicians announced, one in four medical professionals at the National Health Service (NHS) is now "sick or in isolation". Conditions in London and Birmingham are said to be particularly bad.

By Monday evening, around 1,800 people in the UK had died from the effects of Covid-19 lung disease, including several doctors. Of the 143,000 people tested, 25,150 were positive.

The government is also under great pressure because, according to many critics, it reacted too late and too loosely to the outbreak. Another major problem in the UK is that there are far too few ventilators available. The NHS is chronically underfunded.

Johnson and other advisors and politicians from his environment have also contracted the Corona virus. The head of government is said to have only mild symptoms and continues to work in isolation.