MORE than 50 people are currently in hospital in Worcestershire with Covid-19 according to the latest figures.

The data from NHS England showed that 58 people were in the care of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust on September 28.

The figures, which were released on Thursday (September 29), showed that one person was in intensive care in hospital in Worcester with Covid-19.

A total of 35 people were admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the week up to September 26 – up by 206 per cent when compared to the previous seven days.

Nationally, a total of 7,024 people with coronavirus were in hospital with Covid-19 on September 28, according to NHS England.

This is up 37 per cent from 5,142 a week earlier and the highest figure since August 19.

Patient levels topped 14,000 in mid-July at the peak of the wave of infections caused by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the virus, after which they started to fall steadily.

But this decline came to a halt in mid-September.

Covid-19 hospital data is currently published once a week on a Thursday.

The latest figures show all regions are recording a rise in patients, with south-west England back to levels last seen at the end of July.

Numbers remain well below those reached during the early waves of the pandemic, however.

The rate of Covid-19 hospital admissions is also increasing, with 7.6 admissions per 100,000 people in the week to September 25, up from five the previous week.

Rates are highest among people aged 85 and over, at 82 per 100,000.

This is up sharply from 49.4 and is the highest rate for this age group since mid-August.

Around six in 10 patients who test positive for Covid-19 are being treated primarily for something else.

They need to be isolated from patients who do not have Covid, putting extra pressure on hospital staff already struggling to clear a record backlog of treatment.

Separate data from the Zoe Health Study, which is based on symptoms reported by volunteers across the country, suggests an average of one in 32 people in the UK was likely to have symptomatic Covid-19 at the start of this week, with rates rising in all age groups.