Covid-19: Bedford borough rise in cases "quite astonishing"

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says demand has increased

A record rise in Covid cases in a council area has seen the number of hospital admissions double in a week.

Ian Brown, Bedford Borough Council's chief officer for public health, said the increase was "astonishing".

Referring to Covid infections, he said: "More concerningly, we've seen our rate in our over-60s doubling in the last seven days; it was up to 826 per 100,000."

Bedford had an overall rate of 1,680 cases per 100,000, the council said.

Covid rate rises in the Bedford area are rising steeply

"We've seen quite astonishing rises in the numbers of reported Covid cases over the last couple of weeks, with the overall seven-day rate doubling in the last 14 days," Dr Brown told the council's Local Outbreak Engagement Board, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The current rate means more than 1.5% of residents in the Bedford area had tested positive in a seven-day period, he said.

Constraints in testing capacity nationally means the number might be "an underestimate" and New Year's Eve mixing and the return of schools have not yet been taken into account.

The board heard the Omicron variant was accounting for around 95% of new cases in the area.

• Covid absences put pressure on England's hospitals

• More than 3.7 million with Covid in UK, says ONS

• Military sends 200 personnel to back NHS in London

The number of patients in Bedford Hospital had doubled in the last seven days, with 71 patients in the hospital with Covid-19 on Wednesday, making it the highest level since February 2021, he said.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "Demand for our services has increased and we are currently seeing a high number of Covid-19 positive inpatients in our hospitals."

It has suspended visiting to all adult inpatient wards at Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Bedford Hospitals.

A planned meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday has been cancelled due to a "significant increase" in Covid cases, the council said.