Covid hospital admissions are on the rise again in England after a two month decline, worrying new data shows.
Patients admitted to hospital for Covid-19 rose by six per cent, with figures jumping from 1,175 to 1,380 on Tuesday this week when compared to May 31, according to fresh data from NHS England.
The number of patients being admitted to hospital for coronavirus increased in the first week of June having decreased since the beginning of April.
The east of England saw the biggest increase in admissions, with figures up by 41 per cent.
The south east and south west, meanwhile, were both up by 23 per cent.
Latest NHS England figures show that of the 3,946 patients in hospital with Covid on Tuesday, 1,380 of those were being treated primarily for the virus.
Two months earlier on April 7, 6,426 patients were being treated primarily for Covid out of 15,123 overall Covid patients.
Despite this, the daily average across seven days appears to be down when compared to the average over the seven days before.
Adele Groyer, from the Covid-19 actuaries response group, says that her research shows the proportion of those who likely caught coronavirus within hospital grew to 29 per cent.
That's up from 19 per cent over the past week and is based off people testing positive one week after being admitted.
Latest NHS figures also show that there were 175 patients on ventilation beds as of May 22, the most up-to-date data currently available. This figure is down from the 312 record on February 22.
The highest figure recorded since then was 385 patients on April 12.
This week, national rules on mask wearing in GP surgeries and hospitals were largely scrapped under new guidance.
Organisations will instead draft their own policies on general mask use. Some GP surgeries and health centres have already taken down signs telling patients to wear masks on entry.
However, a number of hospitals have called on patients and staff to continue to wear masks and face coverings on their sites.
In a letter to all local health bodies, NHS England highlighted new infection control guidance set out by the UK Health Security Agency.
Patients visiting GP surgeries or hospital outpatient appointments and people attending A&E no longer need to wear masks “unless this is a personal preference”, the letter states.
