Big fall in number of patients needing hospital for virus
WALES has seen a dramatic fall in the number of patients needing hospital treatment for coronavirus.
Latest figures from the Welsh Government show that an average of 15 people a day were admitted to hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in the last week – down from 20 recorded in the previous week.
To put this into context, during the winter peak there were 166 admissions in a single day (December 30), but that figure has been falling gradually since.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus patients occupying hospital beds is also at record lows since the pandemic began. However, the picture still differs significantly between health boards.
Across Wales, 347 beds were occupied with Covid-19 related patients – confirmed, suspected and recovering – on Wednesday, representing just 4% of all hospitalisations.
This is a big decrease from 519 on the same day in the previous week (7% of all hospitalisations) and way below the peak on January 12 of 2,879 patients.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board currently has the most general and acute beds occupied with confirmed, suspected and recovering coronavirus patients with 124, followed by Betsi Cadwaladr UHB (94) and Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB (86).
Just two months ago, the comparable figure for Cardiff and Vale UHB was 485.
In contrast, Swansea Bay University Health Board only has two Covid-19 patients taking up general and acute beds, Hywel Dda UHB has eight and Aneurin Bevan UHB has 22. Exactly one month earlier – on March 14 – these figures stood at 226, 52 and 80 respectively. There was also very encouraging news when it came to the number of Covid-19 patients needing the highest form of treatment in invasive ventilated beds.
On Wednesday, 11 patients with Covid-19 were taking up these beds, compared to 16 the same day the week before and 164 during the pandemic’s peak in April 2020.
In contrast, 144 invasive ventilated beds are currently being taken up by non-Covid patients – close to the highest number since this data was first collected in April 2020.