Slight rise in number of people being treated in Northumbria Healthcare Trust hospitals for Covid

The number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on December 21 was up from 36 on the same day the previous week.

The number of beds at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 more than doubled in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 22.

Across England there were 8,643 people in hospital with Covid as of December 21, with 174 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has increased by 88% in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has increased by 49%.

New figures also show that 64 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in the week to December 19. This was up from 45 in the previous seven days.

And there were two more coronavirus deaths recorded over the latest weekly period in Northumberland.

As of December 22, when the UK coronavirus dashboard was updated, a total of 1,214 people had died in the area – up from 1,212 on December 15.

They were among 9,720 deaths recorded across the North East.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Northumberland.

A total of 175,007 deaths were recorded throughout England by December 22 (Thursday) – up from 174,356 last week.