Covid cases in Bedford are at a record high - and the number of patients in Bedford Hospital has doubled in seven days

95 per cent of cases are Omicron
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The overall Covid case rate in Bedford borough is at a record high, with rates of infection rising in all age groups.

But these "astonishing" numbers are likely to be an underestimate of the actual number of Covid cases in the community due to test shortages.

This was the message given to Bedford Borough Council's Local Outbreak Engagement Board yesterday (Thursday, January 6) by the council's chief officer for public health, Ian Brown.

He also told the board that the number of patients in Bedford Hospital has doubled in the past week.

"We've seen quite astonishing rises in the numbers of reported Covid cases over the last couple of weeks, with the overall seven-day rate doubling in the last 14 days," he said.

He told the Board that on Wednesday the seven-day rate was 1,680 cases per 100,000 population.

"That's more than one and a half per cent of Bedford residents testing positive in a seven day period," he added.

"More concerningly, we've seen our rate in our over 60s doubling in the last seven days, it was up to 826 per 100,000.

"[This is] obviously important because our over 60s, despite the very high rates of booster vaccinations, are still the group who are most likely to be hospitalised with Covid-19," he said.

"On the 29th of December, which coincidentally was also our highest day last year, we had 645 positive cases, which is almost double what we saw the same time last year.

"This is likely to be an underestimate of the number of cases in the community because testing capacity is constrained at the moment across the country.

"While we have seen in the last few days the rates of growth in cases slowing slightly, I think we need to be clear that we don't currently see the effects of New Year's Eve mixing.

"And we also don't yet see any effect that returning to schools may have on our cases locally or nationally.

"So I think there's a big unknown there in terms of what direction the pandemic will take next," he added.

The board heard that Omicron is accounting for around 95 per cent of the new cases in Bedford.

Mr Brown said that since the last board meeting there has been more information about the severity of this variant.

"We do know is that is it's 60 to 70 per cent less likely to cause hospitalisation than Delta," he said.

"The huge numbers of people that are being infected mean that large numbers will still require hospital treatment, and I think that already can be seen in our hospital data."

The number of patients in Bedford Hospital had doubled in the last seven days, with 71 patients in the hospital with Covid-19 on Wednesday.

"That is the highest level that we've seen since the middle of February last year," Mr Brown said.

"We do have to bear in mind those lags between getting a positive test and then being admitted to hospital and what that might mean given that our rates of infection overall and in our over 60s have doubled in the last seven days.

"We may still see another doubling of hospital admissions I suspect.

"But we're now clear that booster vaccination against Omicron reduces the risk of hospitalisation by 88 per cent," he added.

A spokesperson for Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "As expected at this time of year, demand for our services has increased and we are currently seeing a high number of Covid-19 positive inpatients in our hospitals. The number of Covid-19 cases across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas is increasing, and this is being reflected in our hospitals.

"In order to help minimise the spread of infection the Trust has made the difficult decision to suspend standard visiting to all adult inpatient wards with immediate effect. This does not apply to end of life patients or those patients who need a carer/support present.

"Anybody attending our hospital must observe our existing restrictions which include wearing surgical facemasks whilst on-site and attending your hospital appointment alone (excluding maternity, paediatric, those requiring carer support)."