A nurse in a coronavirus ward at a hospital in Scotland said patients had told her they did not believe the virus was real.
Senior charge nurse Rosario Walshe leads a team at Ward A31 at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk, in Scotland.
She said there had been a "huge spike" in cases recently.
The 32-bed coronavirus ward has every bed taken up as hospital referrals have doubled compared to the first wave of the pandemic.
She believes a combination of family gatherings at Christmas, people ignoring the coronavirus guidelines and the rapidly-spreading mutant variant is behind the rise in patient numbers.
But she said she was also stunned to find that some patients thought Covid was a hoax.
She said: "I've had patients say to me, 'I wish I had listened. I didn't listen. I didn't really believe it was real.' So that was quite an eye opener.
"The last few weeks have been extremely busy and challenging. It's definitely different to the first wave.
"We've seen a lot more admissions with Covid-related symptoms. We've seen lots of groups of family members admitted with Covid, a lot of young people, which you didn't see so much in the first wave.
"We've had some extremely sick people. Patients discussed with ITU (intensive treatment unit), some transferred to ITU. It's definitely been more challenging.
"The reasons for it getting worse, I think I can only assume that people weren't following the guidelines.
"It does annoy me slightly. Lots of staff members are adhering to the policies and guidelines, trying really hard to socially distance and then you've got people who refuse to believe this is real.
"We still have the element of people that don't believe."
Juliette Murray, deputy medical director for acute services at NHS Forth Valley, described staff as "amazing".
She said: "We're seeing twice the number of referrals that we saw in the first wave, with all the other pressures, so it's just a bit of a juggling act trying to keep everything going."
Yearly winter strain on the service, staff with the virus, attempting to provide as much elective surgery as possible as well as dealing with urgent cancer referrals and A&E admissions all contribute to the extra pressures on top of the second wave.
Ms Murray is optimistic that a corner is being turned, saying: “We’re very much hoping that this is us, we’re right at the peak, and we won’t see more admissions than we are just now because, obviously, the effect of the lockdown is starting to happen.
“We’re managing and we’re hoping that’s us right at the top and things will start to ease off a little bit more for us over the next two or three weeks.
“People have made heroic efforts throughout the NHS and in our communities to cope with this. We’re really, really grateful because that’s made a massive difference.”
