Number of coronavirus patients at Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust soars in three months

The number of coronavirus patients at Bedfordshire Hospitals Trust has soared over the last three months, figures reveal.

NHS England data shows 60 people were being cared for in hospital by the trust on Tuesday, August 17.

The number of beds at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 increased more than seven-fold, from eight on May 18 – the day after pubs and restaurants were allowed to seat customers inside and the cap on outdoor gatherings was raised to 30 people.

Last month the fourth and last step of the Government's roadmap was also reached, when capacity limits for venues and events were scrapped and social distancing rules ended.

The figures show the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid on August 17 was up from 55 on the same day the previous week.

They also show that 63 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the week to August 15 – an increase from 53 the previous seven days.

Across England there were 5,437 people in hospital with Covid as of August 17, with 825 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has increased more than seven-fold since May 18 and is 40 per cent higher than it was four weeks ago, when 3,894 people were in hospital with the virus.​

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, has urged people not to delay getting their Covid-19 vaccine, warning there were some “very sick” young adults in hospital with the virus.

His comments came as separate figures from Public Health England showed that 55 per cent% of people in hospital with the Delta variant – which is dominant in the UK – have not been jabbed.

Of the coronavirus patients aged under 50, 74 per cent had not received a vaccination, while almost two-thirds of people who died were not jabbed.

Prof Whitty said: “The great majority of adults have been vaccinated.

“Four weeks working on a Covid ward makes stark the reality that the majority of our hospitalised Covid patients are unvaccinated and regret delaying.

"Some are very sick, including young adults.

“Please don’t delay your vaccine.”

The UK’s vaccine programme has so far seen around three-quarters of adults in the UK double-jabbed.