London mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday declared a major incident, warning that hospitals in the British capital could soon be overwhelmed after a surge in coronavirus infections linked to a new strain.

File photo: Agencies

"The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically," Khan said in a statement, urging greater support from the central UK government.

"We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS (National Health Service) could be overwhelmed and more people will die."