Daily Covid cases in the UK continue to rise today, with official data showing that the effects of the No10’s massive testing gap continue to muddy the waters of the pandemic situation.
Another 51,253 were tested positive today by owners of the UK Health Protection Agency, a 41 per cent drop from the previous week. It was the second lowest total in a month after falling to 50,202 yesterday.
Experts say the daily count is now irrelevant, however, as they rely solely on people coming forward for testing and do not show true infection levels, which studies suggest have reached record highs. . Tory Lawmakers have called on ministers to refrain from frequent updates.
In a more promising sign, hospitalizations declined for two consecutive days for the first time since Independence Day in late February – suggesting pressure NHS It can also be extreme.
Figures show that 2,040 infected patients were admitted to the hospital on Saturday, for which the latest data is available. It was down 1.7 per cent from the 2,075 recorded a week ago.
The number counts patients who have tested positive and is not necessarily equal to patients who have remained critically ill with the disease. More than half of the ‘Covid’ patients in the hospital are being treated mainly for other reasons, such as a broken leg. And the virus is not the root cause of death in up to a third of all deaths.
Critics say the rise in so-called ‘accidental’ figures, driven by the wide spread of the now-dominant BA.2, is skewing the government’s daily coronavirus figures.
Meanwhile the coronavirus death toll – a similarly skewed number – rose by 9.4 per cent in a week to 233 today.
UKHSA data also showed there were 42,392 new cases in England today, down 43 per cent from the 74,419 reported last Wednesday, before the free testing was done.
Cases were also lower in Scotland – where free tests are in place as of 18 April – by 23.8 percent from 9,610 to 7,315. In Wales, where free swabbing has been omitted, they fell 77.6 percent to just 391 today.
Despite promising signs, NHS bosses warned they were running behind schedule to deal with an already record backlog, a growing number of infected patients admitted to hospitals during the pandemic and virus-related staff absenteeism. was made because of
More than 2,000 virus patients were hospitalized in England on Sunday and more than 16,500 beds were taken up by infected people yesterday morning, the latest figures available to date. Both figures are roughly equivalent to the January peak.
It comes on the same day a 1.25 percent national insurance increase for millions of Britons will raise £39bn over the next three years to bail out the NHS and social care.
The health service is expected to increase its capacity by 30 percent to pre-pandemic levels and carry out at least 9 million more scans, tests and procedures.
A new national insurance tax, which goes into effect today, will see workers pay 1.25 percent more to help them recover.
But Chris Hopson, the head of NHS providers, said virus hospitalizations and COVID-related staff absenteeism mean we are not going as fast as we would like on backlog recovery.
He told the Times Hospitals ‘wanted to come out of winter and hit warp speed, thereby meeting our target of 104 percent of pre-Covid activity as quickly as possible’. But he said some areas are hitting only 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels.