| London's mayor has sounded an alarm often associated with terrorist attacks to warn of the growing Covid crisis in the city's hospitals, declaring a "major incident." The designation of an event "likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security" will help the authorities coordinate their response and mobilize resources. It comes as a more infectious new strain fuels the virus's spread through London and nearby areas. The U.K. reported 1,325 Covid deaths on Friday, a one-day record, and 68,000 new cases. Hospitals in London are handling more coronavirus patients than during the previous peak last spring, and there are fears they could be overwhelmed within days or weeks.  Meanwhile, the government is stepping up its aggressive vaccination push, approving a shot from Moderna Inc. that's the third to get emergency clearance in the U.K. In time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's immunization campaign should ease the crisis, assuming the vaccines work and the country can deliver the 15 million shots he's vowed by mid-February. But there are doubts on both counts, fueled by the U.K.'s unorthodox approach to vaccine dosing and its checkered pandemic response so far. The public is growing jaded and, despite the new lockdown, the police say they're still having to shut down illegal house parties and raves that are driving infections. A series of U-turns from Johnson and other officials hasn't helped. In the latest, the prime minister, who was insisting only days ago that schools would reopen after the holidays, has been forced to shut them for the foreseeable future as the virus runs amok. With vaccines being rushed out, it may be tempting to think the darkest days of the crisis have passed. For Londoners, it's a safe bet that things will get worse before they get better.--Eric Pfanner | 
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