page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in London
section_title: National Health Service
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in London / Response by sector / National Health Service
caption_attribution_description: NHS Nightingale Hospital London on 30 March 2020
context_page_description: The first case relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in London, England, was confirmed on 12 February 2020 in a woman who had recently arrived from China. By mid-March, there had been almost 500 confirmed cases in the city, and 23 deaths; a month later, the number of deaths had topped 4,000.
  London was initially one of the worst affected regions of England. As of 17 June, there were 27,354 cases, and 6,079 deaths of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in London hospitals. This underestimates the total deaths attributable to COVID-19; up to 1 May, only 76% of deaths in London recorded as involving COVID-19 occurred in hospitals. The city's poorest boroughs – Newham, Brent and Hackney – have been the hardest hit areas in terms of deaths per 100,000 population. Harrow and Brent had excess death rates over three times the national average.
context_section_description: With a high number of cases, older populations and lower number of pre-COVID-19 critical care beds, district general hospitals, located around the centre of London were found in an analysis by Edge Health, to have experienced significant demand. On the evening of 19 March, Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow said it had no critical care capacity left and was contacting neighbouring hospitals about transferring patients who need critical care to other sites. On 4 April, Watford General Hospital also declared a "critical incident".
  Meanwhile, on 24 March, health secretary Matt Hancock said that a temporary new hospital, the NHS Nightingale Hospital, was to be opened in the ExCeL Centre in east London the following week. This critical care hospital would provide up to 4,000 extra critical care beds for London. The London hospital opened on 3 April, and received its first patients on 7 April. As other London hospitals increased critical care capacity, the Nightingale hospital treated 51 patients in its first three weeks, and on 4 May was set to be placed "on standby", accepting no further patients.
  The number of people in London hospitals for COVID-19 peaked on 11 April, according to week-on-week change data.
caption: NHS Nightingale Hospital London
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