Nottingham Post

Majority of Covid patients in hospital haven’t had a jab

- By JACK THURLOW jack.thurlow@reachplc.com @Jackthurlo­w21

AROUND 70 percent of Nottingham hospital patients in critical care are unvaccinat­ed – as figures show the recent daily admissions to hospital.

Staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) - which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital - said they have rising numbers of patients coming in with Covid.

Nationally, there were more than 1,000 estimated daily hospital admissions because of Covid-19 on Monday, with 181 of the admissions in the Midlands.

And parts of Nottingham have now recorded higher coronaviru­s case rates than those in London.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed no further Covid restrictio­ns will be put in place before Christmas.

He said there was currently not enough evidence on the severity of Omicron, the hospitalis­ation rate and the impact of the booster rollout to justify tougher measures before Christmas.

However, the Prime Minister has not ruled out any restrictio­ns coming into place after Boxing Day - with the Omicron variant continuing to surge and cases at an all-time high.

Recent data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that two doses of the vaccine are not enough to stop people becoming unwell from Omicron, but a booster significan­tly increases protection against it. Latest figures (December – December 12) show that in Nottingham and Nottingham­shire 1,820,501 vaccinatio­ns (first, second, third and boosters) have been administer­ed since the start of the programme.

In a statement, NUH said: “We need the support of Nottingham­shire people to help us get through this winter safely and to protect our patients, and our staff, who continue to work exceptiona­lly hard against Covid-19.

“Please do not wait for your loved one inside our hospitals.

“Visiting inpatients is only permitted in specific circumstan­ces, and anyone visiting must do a lateral flow test on the day of their visit and will be asked about this on their arrival.

“Please book your Covid-19 vaccine through the national booking service.”

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