Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust caring for 324 Covid-19 patients

Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust was caring for 324 coronavirus patients in hospital as of Tuesday, figures show.

NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on January 5 was up from 239 on the same day the previous week.

The number of beds at Bedford Hospital and Luton & Dunstable Hospital occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 more than quadrupled in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 70.

Across England there were 26,467 people in hospital with Covid as of January 5, with 2,378 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised has increased by 94 per cent nationally in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has more than doubled.

The figures also show that 290 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the week to January 3. This was up from 253 in the previous seven days.