When a highly contagious new coronavirus variant began to emerge across the globe, staff at Manchester Royal Infirmary went straight back to disaster response mode.
Their sense of dread was comparable to more deadly strains such as Kent and Delta - which saw hundreds of patients from across the city requiring life-saving treatment.
And thankfully, whilst Omicron didn't turn out to be as 'vicious' as the likes of Delta, it presented a new set of challenges for exhausted medics - most of whom have been battling the virus for nearly two years.
