Biosecurity

'Like a bomb had gone off on either side of their chest.' London doctors speak of 'continuous tsunami'

British doctor Katie Sanderson hit breaking point over the weekend. As she advised the family of a Covid-19 patient on where their loved one should die, she received an image on her phone of crowds of people sunning themselves in a north London park.

"That made me hit a wall," the 32-year-old said, furious that members of the public were not heeding the government's social distancing advice as confirmed cases and deaths from the global Covid-19, or coronavirus, outbreak climbed in the UK. "These people are going to contribute to somebody needlessly dying in two weeks' time."

The rapidly rising number of deaths in Italy and Spain have placed Europe at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis. Both countries now have higher death tolls than China, where the outbreak began, and with more than 7,500 fatalities Italy has the most deaths anywhere in the world.