Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has declared a major incident in the UK capital, saying hospitals in the city could be overwhelmed if people do not stay at home.
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"Today I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point," he said.
"One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die."
Local authorities said coronavirus cases in London had exceeded 1000 per 100,000 while there are 35 per cent more people in hospital with the virus than in the peak of the pandemic in April.
A "major incident" means the "severity of the consequences" associated with it are "likely to constrain or complicate the ability of responders to resource and manage the incident".
Khan has written to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking for more financial support for Londoners who need to self-isolate and are unable to work and for daily vaccination data.
He is also asking for the closure of places of worship and for face masks to be worn routinely outside of the home including in crowded places and supermarket queues.
Australian Associated Press
