A SECOND intensive care unit has opened at Worcestershire Royal as staff at the hospital continue to deal with the second wave of coronavirus across the county.

Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our staff across all our hospitals are doing a magnificent job in working to put patients first through one of the most challenging periods in the history of the NHS.

"This includes frontline staff working under tremendous pressure looking after coronavirus patients and also those working tirelessly behind the scenes to support them.

“We have recently opened an additional intensive care unit, on the Worcestershire Royal site. This increases beds across the county, and also enables us to have Covid positive and negative patients on separate units.

“It's important that people do everything they can to reduce the pressure on our hospitals by following the latest social distancing guidance and maintaining scrupulous hand hygiene."

This comes after it was revealed the number of people with Covid-19 in hospital in Worcestershire is higher than the peak of the first wave.

READ MORE: Number of Covid patients at Worcestershire's hospitals higher than first peak