On the Covid frontline in UK hospital’s red zone

If the first wave took hospitals by surprise, there is an air of grim inevitability about the second. As Nottingham and Warrington are put under England’s highest tier 3 restrictions, doctors and healthcare workers across the north of England are struggling to cope with rising numbers of patients, many of them seriously ill.

Across the UK, there have been a further 20,890 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. A further 102 deaths have been reported

That takes the total to 44,998.

We have been to the Covid wards at Bradford’s Royal Infirmary, where this winter is becoming a battle of endurance versus fatigue.