Covid cases plunge to just 12

THAT COMPARES TO A PEAK OF 151 IN FEBRUARY

THE number of Covid-19 patients in Burton has dropped massively since the peak of the pandemic in February.

Queen’s Hospital in the town is treating 12 Covid-19 patients, down from 20 last week and a pandemic peak of 151 in early February - representing a drop of 92 per cent.

Intensive care staff at the hospital are currently looking after three patients who have the virus, down from four in the previous week and a high of 12 in early February.

The fall in numbers is due to improved treatment options, understanding of the virus and infection prevention procedures. All of this has meant many patients have avoided intensive care altogether, said a spokesman for the Derby and Burton NHS trust which runs the hospital.

However, the level of Covid-19 patients in intensive care appears to have remained more stubborn and has taken longer to reduce, with more complex long-term cases.

As of March 29, there were 16 Covid-19 patients in beds at Royal Derby, down from 17 last week and down from an all-time high of 388 in mid-january – a reduction of 96 per cent. Of these 16 Covid-19 patients, four are in intensive care, down from nine last week and an all-time high of nearly 30 in the first wave.

Meanwhile, a study suggests nearly a third of Covid-19 hospital patients need to be readmitted within a month of being sent home.

It said more than one in 10 died after they had been discharged.

Hospital patients with Covid-19 have “increased rates of multiorgan dysfunction” compared with the general population, researchers found. They said that people who have post-covid syndrome need to get “integrated rather than organ or disease specific” care.

The study, published in The BMJ, examined data on almost 48,000 patients who had been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and were sent home before August 31 last year.

They also examined information on the same number of people – or so-called “matched controls” – who had not been admitted to hospital.

Experts, led by researchers from the University of Leicester, examined whether people needed to be readmitted, death rates and diagnoses of respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, kidney and liver diseases.

After an average follow-up period of 140 days, nearly a third – or 14,060 of 47,780 – were readmitted.

And during the follow-up period more than one in 10 (5,875) died after discharge.

Rates of respiratory disease, diabetes and cardiovascular disease were also significantly raised in Covid-19 patients, the authors said.