Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, declared a major incident in the capital as the coronavirus infection rate exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people, with a 27 per cent increase in hospital patients between December 30 and January 6. 

There are now more than 7,000 people in hospital with Covid, a 35 per cent increase compared to the previous peak of the pandemic.

The triggering of major incident status – defined as a situation requiring a special response by the emergency services – came the day after Sussex and Surrey took the same step. 

It was previously triggered in the capital after the London Bridge terror attack and the Grenfell Tower fire disaster, both of which happened in June 2017.

Mr Khan warned that London was "at crisis point", adding: "If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.

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