Greater Manchester covid hospital admissions rise 50 per cent in a week fuelling 'new wave' fears

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The number of patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 has jumped in the biggest rise since the peak of the last wave of infection, sparking fears that a new wave could be upon us in time for a potential "twindemic" of both coronavirus and flu.

In Greater Manchester, 207 patients were admitted to hospital with Covid in the week ending September 26 - up 51 per cent from the week before where 137 people were taken into hospital. A graph showing the coronavirus hospital admissions over the last year illustrates that this figure is quite low when compared to the start of the year when more than 1,200 patients were admitted with coronavirus in a week.

However, it is the biggest jump in admissions since the peak of the last wave, which saw 784 people admitted in the week ending July 10, with similar spikes seen at the start of previous waves. Last week, the number of patients hospitalised with the virus nationally rose by 37 per cent, to 7,024 as of September 28, prompting experts to say an "autumn wave" had hit the country.

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According to the PA news agency, around six in 10 patients who test positive for Covid-19 are being treated primarily for something else. However, 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, collected through a phone app and 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. Professor Tim