The new Greater Manchester Covid hotspots as figures show around 500 hospital patients in region have virus
Around one in 10 hospital beds in Greater Manchester are currently occupied by patients with Covid, the latest figures have revealed. It comes as experts warn a new variant dubbed 'the Kraken' could become one of the dominant strains in the UK.
"We can manage and manage, but one small thing will tip them over the edge. All of this is the worst for patients, at least we get to go home after our shifts, it's like this for them all the time." A rise in Covid-19 patients in the run-up to Christmas was one of a number of factors mentioned by health chiefs as creating extra pressures on the NHS, along with bed shortages, staff sickness and a surge in flu cases. Some 2.7m people in private households in the UK were likely to test positive for coronavirus at the start of this month, down from 3m over Christmas, according to the Office for National Statistics .
Infections climbed as high as 4.3 million last winter during the spread of the Omicron variant, but this was topped a few months later during the wave caused by the Omicron BA.2/3 subvariants, when infections reached a record 4.9 million. The latest estimate for England is 2.2 million infections, down from 2.5 million, while Wales has seen infections fall to 157,000 from 173,200.
In Greater Manchester 54.2pc of people eligible have now had their Covid-19 autumn booster, while 76.6pc of adults and 19pc of children have received at least two doses of the jab. In a statement on Friday NHS Greater Manchester chief exec Mark Fisher said 'all aspects' of the NHS were still experiencing 'immense pressure'. And he urged anyone eligible to have a flu vaccine.
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