Covid hospitalisations down in Leicester despite winter approaching

child in blue hoodie sitting on floor

Across Leicester, hospital admissions for people who have tested positive for Covid-19 are down despite the onset of winter, statistics show.

Data from Open Leicester, up to November 9, confirms that the number of Covid hospitalisations has been slowly trending downwards since the beginning of October to similar levels seen in the summer.

Over one fortnight, Covid admissions in hospitals belonging to the University Hospitals of Leicester Trust more than halved, from 125 on October 26 to 58 on November 9.

The data shows that although hospital admissions were higher this October than last...

...hospitalisations in November 2022 are significantly lower than what they were this time last year.

On face value, this seems quite surprising considering the turn of the weather and more people spending time inside, the latter of which would help increase the spread of the virus.

Nurse Catherine Fisher, 39, from a GP surgery in Leicester, said: “The slight reduction in hospital admissions shouldn’t be confused with the fact that Covid wards both in Leicester and around the country are still very busy.

“Many of our community’s more vulnerable population have recently had their fourth Covid vaccination, meaning that they are adequately protected and less likely to suffer serious complications from the disease.

“It is also worth remembering that as lots of people have now contracted the disease since the pandemic began, there are now far more people with natural antibodies to the virus, which could help to explain the small reduction in hospital numbers.

“However, we expect cases and hospitalisations to increase as we move towards the Christmas and New Year period.”

Open Leicester data suggests that last Christmas was responsible for a large increase in hospital admissions in the city because of Covid at the beginning of January 2022.

Daily Covid admissions were relatively low at the beginning of December.

However, at the beginning of January 2022, hospitalisations had more than trebled.

This trend was sustained into February and Leicester hospitals frequently had more than 250 people being admitted with Covid-19 every day.

This was in spite of a big campaign organised by the government prior to the festive period last year to encourage people to get their booster vaccinations.

More information about how to stay safe from Covid-19 this winter can be found on the NHS website.