Covid: 'We are hanging by a thread' - hospital doctor

If you want to know why England is going into lockdown, Liverpool's intensive care units may help give you the answer. They are struggling to cope. 'We are hanging by a thread,' says Dr Oliver Zuzan, divisional medical director at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. He is speaking to me in a six-bed intensive care unit, reserved for non-Covid patients. At least here there's no requirement for the staff to spend their shifts in full PPE, with tight-fitting masks that dig into their faces. Here it's just an apron, gloves and surgical mask. The intensive care unit has had to be split into Covid and non-Covid areas. In the side rooms, patients wait for a diagnosis that will determine whether they are cared for in a red zone (Covid) or green zone (non-Covid). 'People are right to say that these are pressures that occur every winter, but this time it's just a lot worse. This is winter plus, plus, plus,' says Dr Zuzan.