More than 200 Covid patients being cared for in region's hospitals
More than 230 Covid patients were being cared for by hospital trusts in the Black Country and Staffordshire – as numbers continue to increase nearly a month after all restrictions were lifted.
NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospitals in the region for Covid-19 by 8am on August 3 was up from 218.
The number of patients with coronavirus being cared for at four trusts in the region increased in one week, while one saw a decrease from the previous week.
A total of 86 coronavirus patients were being cared for at the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust as of August 3 – up from 77 on the same day the previous week.
The number of beds at the trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 increased by 87 per cent in the last four weeks – 28 days ago there 46 patients.
Forty-four Covid patients were being cared for at the University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust as of August 3 – down from 48 on the same day the previous week.
But the number of beds occupied by people with coronavirus at the trust has more than doubled in the last four weeks – with 17 being cared for 28 days ago.
At the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, there were 38 patients being cared for with Covid as of August 3 – an increase from 34 patients on the same day the previous week.
There were eight beds occupied by coronavirus patients four weeks ago at the trust.
A total of 37 Covid patients were being cared for at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust as of last Tuesday – up from 32 on the same day the previous week.
The number of beds at the Wolverhampton trust occupied by people who tested positive for coronavirus has more than tripled in the last four weeks – 28 days ago there were 10 patients being cared for.
And 31 patients were being cared for at the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust by 8am on August 3 – up from 27 on the same day the previous week.
There were six beds occupied by coronavirus patients four weeks ago at the trust.
The figures also show that in the week to August 1, 76 new Covid patients were admitted to the Sandwell and West Birmingham trust; 56 to UHNM; 39 to the Wolverhampton trust; 32 to the Dudley trust; and 27 to the Walsall trust.
Last month health chiefs in the Black Country said they were treating "a much higher proportion of patients aged under 25 than at the start of the year".
But they added that the numbers are not comparable with previous waves – praising the vaccination programme for reducing the numbers coming into hospital.
Across England there were 5,116 people in hospital with Covid as of August 3 – with 780 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.
The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has increased by more than double in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has also more than doubled.
