Covid-19 hospital patients in Wales down by 32% in a week

There are 16 times more non-Covid patients in critical care than patients who have Covid

The number of patients with Covid-19 in hospital beds in Wales has dropped by almost a third in the past week.

There were only 29 people "actively" or primarily being treated for the virus in acute beds on Monday, Digital Health and Care Wales figures show.

There has been a steady drop in patients testing positive for Covid since mid-April.

The average of 238 hospital admissions in the past week is 32% down on last week, and 68% down on a month ago.

However, acute hospitals remain under pressure in Wales, with the bed occupancy rate - showing how full wards are - hitting record levels over the past two weeks, with 92.6% of beds currently occupied.

Although there has been a change in the number of times patients are tested for Covid while in hospital, this is reflecting the fall in infections in the community at large.

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Only 29 (16%) of confirmed Covid patients in acute beds on Monday were being primarily treated for the virus, with 147 patients in hospital being treated for other conditions. Both figures are falling.

Numbers in critical care are averaging 11 a day, down from 14 a week ago.

There are 16 times more non-Covid patients in critical care than patients who have Covid.

Numbers of Covid admissions are averaging nine a day, down from 14 a week ago, and the first time these have been in single figures since mid-July last year.

Covid cases make up 0.9% of all admissions.

On average, more than 83% of patients in hospital with confirmed Covid in the past week were being treated for other conditions.

Only 16.5% of patients in acute hospital beds with Covid were being primarily or "actively" treated for the virus.

Despite the fall in Covid cases, hospitals remain under pressure.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board which runs hospitals in Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Bridgend, said on Tuesday it was experiencing "exceptional" demand across all its hospital departments, particularly its emergency departments.

We know from the latest infection survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - involving thousands of swab samples taken in households across Wales - that Covid is estimated to be receding.

One in 40 people was estimated to have Covid, a reduction for a fifth successive week.

Meanwhile, the latest mortality figures remain within a similar range.

There were 45 deaths involving Covid in the week ending 13 May, the same as the week before.

Of these, 13 were in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area.

Covid was the third leading cause of death in April and the total number of deaths due to Covid - in which it was the underlying cause - had reached 8,696 by the end of last month.

When we include deaths in which Covid played a part, then there have been 10,308 deaths involving Covid in Wales.

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