Hospital bosses and doctors on Thursday warned of being swamped by a "tsunami" of COVID-19 patients in London, as Britain braced for a peak in cases and the government faced calls to urgently provide specialist kit and tests for frontline health workers.
Scientists, though, warned that thousands of new ventilators may come too late while the government said it failed to join a European scheme to boost capacity because of a communications "mix up".
Britain initially adopted a light-touch approach to the outbreak but has since imposed tougher measures, including a three-week lockdown, as confirmed cases and deaths climbed.
As of 1700 GMT on Wednesday, there were 11,658 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths surged past 100 in 24 hours for the first time to bring the total to 578.