Half of ‘Covid’ patients in hospital with the virus, not because of it

Almost half of Covid patients in hospital are now there ‘with’ the virus rather than because of it, latest NHs figures show.

the situation seemed even more optimistic in london and the East of England, where more than half of those admitted are now ‘incidental’ cases.

there were 15,026 coronavirus patients in hospitals in England on January 11 but 44 per cent of them – 6,647 – were not being treated ‘primarily’ for the disease.

this is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June last year in a major sign that omicron is not putting the same pressure on hospitals as previous waves.

In london, 51 per cent of cases are now incidental and this rises to 52 per cent in the East.

the latest data came as Health secretary sajid Javid said that there were ‘already early signs that the rate of hospitalisation is starting to slow’.

However, he warned that omicron ‘still has the potential to lead to significant numbers of people in hospital’ and that the NHs will remain under ‘significant pressure’ over the next few weeks.

He told the Commons yesterday: ‘It is encouraging that during this wave we have not seen an increase in Covid-19 intensive care patients... We know that omicron is less severe. But no one should be under any illusions – it is severe for anyone that ends up in hospital and that’s far more likely if you have not had the jab.’

separate figures, also published yesterday, showed that 80 of the 135 acute trusts in England which submitted data had bed occupancy levels above 90 per cent every day in the week to January 9. this is far above the recommended limit of 85 per cent.

this is coupled with high levels of staff shortages due to Covid across hospital trusts in England. But – while daily absences reached a peak of 49,941 on January 5 – the numbers have dropped every day since then.