WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2020Major incident declared by
NHS over virus as hospitals
told to ‘prepare for surge’
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, at a press briefing at No 10 yesterday (EPA)
SHAUN LINTERN
The NHS yesterday declared a major national incident over the coronavirus outbreak and ordered all
hospitals to review their numbers of intensive care beds and how they could be increased to cope with a
surge in patients.
A letter sent to health chiefs yesterday by NHS England reveals patients infected with the virus could soon
start to be treated on hospital wards instead of specialist units as the numbers affected grow. Hospitals have