A TOTAL of eight patients with Covid are being treated on ventilators and in critical care beds in hospitals owned by the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, figures have now revealed.

As of July 25 the estimated new hospital cases was 12 across the three sites include Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.

Official figures show the total beds occupied by confirmed Covid-19 is 31 and there are four patients in mechanical ventilation beds and four patients in adult critical care beds at the hospitals.

As of July 25 there were also 12 Covid patient admissions to hospital and diagnoses in hospitals.

It comes as the number of coronavirus cases in Epping Forest increased by 128 over last weekend.

A total of 15,187 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Epping Forest when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Monday August 2, up from 15,059 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Epping Forest now stands at 11,533 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 9,157.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 71,580 over the period, to 5,902,354.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Epping Forest.

The figures show 372 people had died in the area by August 2 – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

Please see below.

A spokesperson for Essex County Council, said: “While the number of people with Covid-19 in Essex hospitals increased during the height of the Delta outbreak, numbers are now stable and remain below 10 per cent of the level we saw in January this year. However, any cases of Covid-19 in our hospitals will put additional pressures on local NHS services.

“The majority of people in Essex hospitals with Covid-19, particularly those in intensive care, are people who remain unvaccinated. We would urge anyone who has not yet taken up the Covid-19 vaccine to do so as soon as possible and to remember to have both doses. The vaccine has significantly reduced the number of people becoming seriously ill and dying of Covid-19.”