Coronavirus: Hospital admissions rise in NI Covid hotspot

Two wards in Altnagelvin's north wing are now being used to treat Covid-19 patients

Hospital admissions of patients with coronavirus in NI's Covid-19 hotspot are "doubling every three to four days", the Western Trust has said.

Thirty-one patients are now being treated for coronavirus at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry - five people are in intensive care.

Two additional wards at Altnagelvin have been opened to treat coronavirus patients.

A third ward has been identified for further admissions, the trust said.

There have been 3,161 confirmed cases in the Derry and Strabane council area since March - 1,463 of them were diagnosed in the past seven days.

Three people have reported to have died in Derry and Strabane since Friday after testing positive for coronavirus, according to daily figures from the Department of Health.

Last week, the Derry and Strabane council area was placed under tighter restrictions to help curb the growing number of cases.

'Middle of the surge'

But the infection rate in Derry and Strabane is continuing to rise.

Director of acute services, Geraldine McKay, said the rate of infection was "increasing at pace".

"We have revised the Altnagelvin surge plan to indicate that," she said.

"There are two wards in the north wing that are now Covid wards, we also have a further third ward identified in the south building."

A total of 1,463 cases of coroanvirus have been diagnosed in Derry and Strabane over the past seven days.

She said both the trust's acute hospitals - Altnagelvin and the South West Acute Hospital in County Fermanagh - are "right in the middle of the surge at this time".

"Altnagelvin is at red, the South West at amber," she added.

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The Western Trust has previously warned that it is facing increased staff pressures, as rising levels of Covid-19 in the community mean more and more staff are being asked to self-isolate.

'Major impact'

On Monday the trust confirmed a total of 460 staff, across all disciplines, are not able to work at present - 345 at Altnagelvin and 115 at the South West hospital.

Not all staff are absent because of Covid-19, the trust said, but it has had "a major impact on those numbers".

Elective orthopaedic inpatient services have been suspended and restrictions on visiting at the trust are now also in place as part of its surge plan.

"Unfortunately we have seen a growing number of incidents where our own staff have been faced with verbal abuse and aggression regarding some of the restrictions around visiting," Brian McFettridge, assistant director in critical care at Altnagelvin Hospital said.

He added: "We would ask the public to be patient with us and to be kind".