Covid-19 hospital numbers show rise by half in a week

Hospital admissions with Covid were more than three times higher at the same stage of the second wave

The number of patients with confirmed Covid in hospital beds in Wales has risen by nearly half in a week, latest figures show.

There were 195 patients across Wales on Monday - a 47% rise on the week before.

But the figures from Digital Health and Care Wales also show patient numbers were down considerably on the same point in the second wave.

Back in November, two weeks before the first Covid vaccines were given out, there were more than 1,000 in hospital.

The latest figures follow on from rising Covid cases in the community over more than two weeks, in the wake of the relaxation of many restrictions.

• The Wales case rate rose to 306.1 cases per 100,000 - with average daily cases up by two thirds in the week ending 19 August, the latest period for stable data

• Half the positive tests in the community currently involve the under-30s, while public health officials recently reported more than a quarter of hospital admissions were unvaccinated patients

Hospital numbers show a rise - but lower than the second wave

Latest hospital figures showed on 23 August, there were 278 Covid patients in hospital beds - the highest daily figure since 18 April. The daily average was 239 for the week compared with 192 the week before.

These numbers also include recovering patients and those suspected of having Covid but waiting for test results.

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When we just look at patients testing Covid-positive, there were 195 across hospitals in Wales. The Betsi Cadwaladr area had 49 of these and Cardiff and Vale had 38, with Cwm Taf Morgannwg areas close behind. There were 133 in total the week before.

The average daily number of confirmed Covid-19 patients was 167 on 23 August, a 26% rise on the week before. But this compares with an average of 1,000 patients at the same point in the second wave.

This is 88% lower than in the peak in January, although there was a record low of just seven patients on 27 May.

Admissions to hospitals of confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases are running at a daily seven-day average of 21, slightly up on the last few weeks and the highest since late July.

But Covid admissions were more than three times higher at this point in the pandemic's second wave.

There were 19 admissions on Monday - seven in Betsi Cadwaladr - with Covid admissions making up 1.9% of all hospital admissions.

Critical care numbers have stayed relatively steady, with 28 Covid patients - including eight in the Aneurin Bevan health board and seven in Betsi Cadwaladr - being treated in critical care or on ventilation on Monday.

Fewer Covid deaths registered

There were 19 deaths registered involving Covid in Wales in the latest weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is three fewer than the previous week.

But for the week ending 13 August, deaths from all causes were above normal levels for the fourth week in succession.

There were five hospital deaths involving Covid in the Aneurin Bevan health board area - three of them involving Newport residents - and four each in Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Swansea Bay.

There were three in Cardiff and Vale, two in Betsi Cadwaladr and one care home death in Carmarthenshire.

There have been no deaths involving Powys residents for 10 weeks.

Compared with the same point in the second wave, the ONS was reporting more than 30 Covid deaths a day; now it is down to just over two on average.

What did other figures tell us on Tuesday?

• The average number of cases is now 1,379 a day, compared with 831 a day the week before - so up by two thirds, according to Public Health Wales

• The "doubling time" - the period it would take for cases to double at the current rate - has fallen to 10 days

• 50% of cases were among under-30s from Tuesday's reported daily cases

• Denbighshire is still the highest for case rates, with Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend showing the most noticeable increases

• Some areas are showing a slow-down or even a fall

• The positivity rate has risen to 17%, showing the proportion of people being tested who come back with a positive result. This is the highest since mid-January

• There were no deaths reported by Public Health Wales on Tuesday; there have been six deaths in the last week

At a community level, all areas have seen at least four Covid positive results in the last week.

The latest hotspots are headed by two communities in Rhyl, Kinmel Bay and Towyn in Conwy, and Treforest in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Meanwhile, more than 9,800 16 and 17-year-olds have been given first doses of vaccine since the end of last week. The vaccination programme only delivered just over 20,000 second doses in the last week, while Sunday saw the lowest number of total doses given since vaccinations started.

There have been 2,339,253 first doses in total, reaching 73.8% of the population and 2,166,569 people have been fully vaccinated - 68.3%.