UK Calls Up Army to Battle London’s Omicron Wave

The Ministry of Defense has been asked to deploy 200 troops to assist London hospitals cope with the crippling staff shortages as the capital struggles with a huge spike in Omicron cases.

40 military medics and 160 general duty personnel will be split into five teams over the next three weeks, with a further 32 soldiers deployed to assist ambulance staff until the end of March.

These numbers come on top of 1,800 army staff already helping civil authorities across the country and will tackle the 17,988 hospital Covid admissions as of Jan 5 - up 50% from the previous week, and the highest since last February.