The London Ambulance Service (LAS) has urged people to only call 999 in a “life-threatening emergency”, after it received the same number of emergency calls on Thursday and Friday as a typical New Year’s Eve.
00:00On Thursday, the London Ambulance Service received 7,356 emergency calls, and on Friday, that figure was 7,608.
00:12The organisation has said these figures are typical of New Year's Eve, and on a typically busy day, there are around 5,500 calls.
00:23They have now urged Londoners only to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency.
00:30There has apparently been an increase in the number of calls from people who have fallen or are having difficulty breathing.
00:40Rates of viral infections and respiratory illnesses are rising, and the LAS said the non-emergency 111 service was also taking a lot of calls from people seeking advice about colds and flu.
00:56Strategic Commander Lawrence Caldory said the service has been preparing for winter with their NHS partners for many months.
01:06He added, now it has arrived.
01:08He was asking all Londoners to help the service by only calling 999 in a life-threatening emergency, saying for urgent but less serious medical needs, please consider using your pharmacy, GP or NHS 111 online to get advice or treatment.
01:29The service said it was challenging to help those in need quickly with the volume of 999 calls over the last few days.
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