A New Zealand anaesthetic technician working across London hospitals says she’s not surprised after the UK death toll from the coronavirus pandemic hit 100,000.
Justine Arnott, a born and bred Cantabrian, travelled to London for her OE in 1995. The mother of two works in operating departments doing scrubs, anaesthetics and recovery but with more than 38,000 Covid-19 infected patients forcing the cancellations of surgeries, she’s helping on the frontline.
"I’m seeing a lot of patients in distress not being able to breathe - just fighting, fighting, fighting - and a lot of them don’t come out," she told 1 NEWS.
"We could be with a patient holding their hand and we know that we’re delivering their last breath to them - it’s not easy."
Government figures show a further 1,631 people who tested positive for coronavirus died yesterday, bringing the UK death toll to 100,162.
During the first wave in March last year, Arnott spent eight weeks living in a hotel to avoid infecting family members as both her sons are asthmatic. Almost a year on, she says it’s a nightmare.
"A nightmare - absolutely mentally, physically draining," she said, adding: "After a long shift, I am crying all the way home and when I reach home, I try to compose myself in the car before I go inside."
Britain has become the first European country to officially record more than 100,00 Covid-19 deaths, the fifth nation in the world to reach six figures after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.
Arnott believes the UK will be in this long and very dark tunnel unless people take it seriously, adding that the pressure in hospitals is relentless and staff are flat out and stretched to the limit.
"A lot of [the patients] now are getting younger. I’ve seen 20, 30-year-olds dying from this. Before, I was seeing 70, 80-year-olds but now this new variant ... it is so much more easier to get," she said.
"It’s scary and a lot of people have no underlying medical conditions."
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson started today's Downing Street coronavirus briefing by offering his condolences to all those who are grieving loved ones who've died in the pandemic.
"It's hard to compute the sorrow contained in the grim statistic," he said.
"I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one."
Throughout the conference he repeated how deeply sorry he felt for every life that had been lost.
"As Prime Minister, I take full responsibility for everything the government has done," he said.
"What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could and continue to do everything we can to minimise loss of life and suffering on what’s has been a very difficult stage, a difficult crisis for the country."
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