NHS issues urgent ‘amber alert’ as national blood supplies run dangerously low after cyber attacks

The NHS has issued an amber warning after national blood stocks reached an extremely low level due to a combination of cyber attacks, declining donations and high demand for O-negative and O-positive blood. The existing supply of O-negative blood is predicted to last about 1.6 days, while overall stocks across all types should last about 4.3 days. Both O-negative and O-positive donors have been urged to urgently attend donation centres.