Covid hospital admissions across region drop by almost a quarter in a week
Covid hospital admissions across the Black Country and Staffordshire have dropped by almost a quarter in a week, according to new figures.
And infection rates have continued to fall sharply across the region, with some areas down to their lowest levels since early December.
It comes as analysis shows a single shot of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid jab reduces the chance of needing hospital treatment by more than 80 per cent.
The most recent figures show in the week up until February 21, 420 patients were admitted to the region’s hospitals with Covid, compared to 556 the week before – a fall of 24 per cent.
Hospital chiefs say the fall means they can look to restore treatments that were postponed in recent months due to the focus on Covid.
Public Health England figures show that in the four Black Country boroughs there were 1,845 new cases in the seven days up to February 25, down 27 per cent on the previous week and the lowest level since the first week in December.
However, Sandwell remains in the top 10 worst hit areas in the country, with an infection rate of 195.2 cases per 100,000 people.
Cases have also dropped in parts of Staffordshire, with a fall of 26 per cent recorded across Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Stafford over the week.
Wolverhampton’s director of public health, John Denley, said people should stick to the rules as a high number of people were still testing positive for Covid every week.
“We must all continue doing all we can to stop the virus from spreading,” he added.
“You should continue to stay home as much as possible, because the less you go out the less likely you are to come into contact with the virus.”
Rosi Edwards, a non-executive director at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said that staff at New Cross were redeployed in mid-January to Covid wards, meaning other treatments were “severely reduced”.
But she said that as the number of Covid patients was now dropping the hospital was starting to restore treatments, including cancer screening and out-patient work.
Meanwhile Covid deaths in the UK are down by a quarter over the last week, which officials say is down to the national lockdown and the success of the vaccine programme.
