Covid on rise in Sheffield as number of people in hospital leaps, new figures show

On Wednesday December 28, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust was caring for 141 coronavirus patients, a big increase on 87 four weeks ago.

Nationally, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital has increased by 91 per cent in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has increased by 63 per cent

Across England there were 9,459 people in hospital with Covid as of December 28, with 209 in mechanical ventilation beds. The data is from NHS England.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, overall hospital admission rates for Covid hit 9.56 per 100,000 in the week beginning December 12, up from 6.61 per 100,000 the week before, with the figure reaching 15.21 per 100,000, in the south-west of England. In China, cases have surged after its zero-Covid policy was relaxed and UK ministers now want arriving travellers to provide a negative test.