Patient admitted to hospital ‘every 30 seconds’ as Covid hospitalisations hit record
“Someone is admitted to hospital with coronavirus every 30 seconds,” the health secretary has said, as hospitalisations continue to hit fresh heights amid the rapid spread of new Covid mutations.
There are currently 37,475 people in UK hospitals with coronavirus, with more than a tenth on ventilators.
“That is the highest that it’s been throughout the pandemic,” Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference. “And sadly, today 599 more deaths were recorded — that’s 599 more people who’ve died from this terrible disease and left loved ones and their families in mourning.”
He added that around 4m people have now been vaccinated across the country, with the UK currently immunising at around double the rate of anywhere else in Europe.
However, scientists warned that hospitals continue to grapple with the effects of social mixing over the festive period.
More than 20 hospitals-worth of patients have been admitted to hospital with Covid since Christmas, according to Professor Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England.
The figures mean just over a third of hospital beds are now taken up by Covid patients — around 50 per cent higher than in the peak of the first wave.
In London, the number of patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus has jumped nine per cent in the past week, while the number of patients on ventilators has seen an 18 per cent hike over the past seven days.
Danny Mortimer, head of the NHS Confederation, warned that theatre staff are being redeployed from surgery to help deal with the current surge in Covid-19 patients requiring 24/7 support.
However, latest figures also showed that infections in the capital are beginning to see a downturn.
Just three out of 32 London boroughs currently have an infection rate higher than the 1,000 cases per 100,000 people mark, down from 17 last week.
The figures mean London currently has the lowest rate of infection in the UK, after the capital’s R rate on Friday dropped to a best estimate of 0.9 to 1.2 — down from a range of 1.1 to 1.4 last week.
The average R rate for the whole of the UK currently stands at 1.2 to 1.3, meaning Covid could be growing between two and five per cent each day elsewhere in the country.
The health secretary has stressed that the UK’s vaccination programme, combined with current lockdown measures, would force down infection rates.
“I know the pain that this disease causes. And I’m determined to do everything we possibly can to defeat it… Our vaccine delivery plan is absolutely at the core of our way out. It’s also the biggest medical deployment in British history,” Hancock said.
He added that current targets to vaccinate the 14m most-vulnerable by mid-February were “clearly on track”, but conceded there were “regional variations” in how many people are being vaccinated.
It comes after the mayor of London last week warned that the capital is missing out on its “fair share” of the vaccine, as he urged ministers to reassess the formula for distributing doses across the UK.
Sadiq Khan said he was “hugely concerned” that Londoners have received only a tenth of the vaccines that have been given across the country, when the capital’s population makes up close to 14 per cent of the country.
“The situation in London is critical with rates of the virus extremely high, which is why it’s so important that vulnerable Londoners are given access to the vaccine as soon as possible,” he added.