Covid-19: Kettering General Hospital doctor tells of 'accelerating' cases

Dr Ajay Verma said he was "blown away" with "how heavy the burden is with Covid" at Kettering General Hospital

A hospital consultant who spoke of his fears over the rise in coronavirus cases said it appeared someone had "pressed the accelerator".

Dr Ajay Verma said he was "blown away" with "how heavy the burden is with Covid" at Kettering General Hospital.

He said patients being admitted, including those in their 30s and 40s, were "incredibly poorly".

The number of cases in the Northamptonshire town rose by 52 to 152 in the week to 17 December.

Northamptonshire itself was a "hair's breadth" away from being moved into tougher tier three Covid-19 restrictions, according to Lucy Wightman, director of Public Health Northamptonshire.

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Dr Verma, a consultant gastroenterologist at Kettering General Hospital, said when he worked a weekend on call in September, coronavirus wasn't "too much of a burden".

But when he was on call two weekends ago, he was "absolutely blown away with how heavy the burden is with Covid".

He said: "[It] seems to be someone's just pressed the accelerator, and the number of cases is greatly increased.

"Also the severity, the patients being admitted with Covid are incredibly poorly. Most of them are older, but there are some younger patients as well.

"I've been seeing patients in their 30s and 40s with very severe Covid."

He said it was "very frightening" and he was "quite shaken".

Northamptonshire remains in tier two - despite Northampton having the highest weekly case rate of any place in tier two after the latest tier allocation.

The number of cases for the county, in the week to 17 December, was 1,582 - up from 1,029 during the previous week.