Overwhelmed hospitals may start offloading patients to care homes - but some campaigners have warned this could lead to another surge in resident deaths.
Tens of thousands of Britain's vulnerable elderly succumbed to the virus during the first wave last spring when infectious hospital patients were shipped into homes.
But the NHS is struggling to cope amid the rampant surge of cases thanks to mutant Covid variants spreading across the country, with twice as many patients in hospitals as in April.
Some charities have opposed the idea of moving patients to care homes again, fearing it is a grave mistake but NHS bosses warn they may have no other choice.