Number of coronavirus patients at Shropshire's main hospitals rises in three months

NHS England data shows 18 people were being cared for in hospital by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust on August 17.

The number of beds at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 soared, from one 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 16 on the same day the previous week.

They also show that 27 new Covid patients were admitted to SaTH in the week to August 15 – a decrease from 29 the previous seven days.

It comes as the hospitals are trying to tackle record backlogs of patients waiting for routine treatment.

They have come about as a result of the pandemic, with staff being redeployed to help battle coronavirus on the frontline.

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.

Some of the larger vaccination sites in Shropshire have now closed, in favour of moving to a more 'local model' which will target un-vaccinated groups who have been reluctant to travel to the mass centres.

To find walk-in and pop-up Covid vaccination clinics available in the county visit stwics.org.uk/our-priorities/covid-19-vaccination-programme/walk-in-clinic-times.