Northamptonshire's hospitals are on alert for rise in Covid-19 cases, says county GP

Health officials say they are monitoring "extremely closely" the number of Covid-19 patients in county hospitals.

Public Health Northamptonshire has so far not revealed publicly how many coronavirus cases are currently being treated in Northampton and Kettering.

Yet regional figures published by the Government confirm numbers of patients in hospitals are rising sharply.

East Midlands Public Health region, which includes Northamptonshire, has seen 13 deaths in last week among patients who tested positive for coronavirus in the previous 28 days compared to five in an equivalent seven-day period in late August.

Midlands NHS hospitals — which include both Northampton General and Kettering General — are currently treating 356 Covid patients compared to 117 a month ago.

Of those, 52 need to be kept on ventilators to aid breathing. The equivalent number in late August was six.

But county GP, Dr Joanne Watt, told last week's weekly local media briefing: "We all remember seeing patients extremely unwell on intensive care units during the first wave of the pandemic and our focus is on prevention, hoping we don't end up in back in that situation.

"Other hospitals have seen increases in the number of cases and we are monitoring the situation extremely closely.

"Most cases are mild and can be managed in community. We are seeing slight increases but we're not at the level of seeing multiple cases in intensive care as we were during the first phase.

"But it is beholden on all of us to adhere to the guidance in order prevent that happening again.

"The difficult thing in this is that you don't know if you are one of those who is going to get more severe form of the disease and will require admission to hospital or an intensive care bed.

"Both of our acute hospitals have detailed surge plans in place and a lot of experience was gained during the from first wave on how to expand intensive care capacity.

"Both are on standby to activate plans should the need arise, although it will be much better to stop people acquiring infection in first place."

Latest numbers published yesterday (Tuesday) showed 27 new cases across Northamptonshire with six each in Northampton, Wellingborough and Corby.

According to NHS England, 311 Covid-19 patients have died in Northampton General Hospital but the most recent of those was nearly two months ago, on August 3.

The most recent of 220 victims at Kettering General Hospital died on August 25.

Northamptonshire care homes have seen 151 deaths linked to coronavirus according to the Care Quality Commission, but none since August 17.

Recent spikes in the number of positive tests in the county have mainly affected younger age groups who are less vulnerable to Covid-19.

The Government's chief scientific advisor last week voiced fears the UK could see 50.000 new cases by mid-October if cases continued to spread at the current rate.

Sir Patrick Vallance also said that would be expected to lead to about "200-plus deaths per day" a month after that.

That prompted the Prime Minister to introduce fresh measures to slow the spread of the disease by closing pubs and restaurants at 10pm each night and widening the requirement to wear face coverings.

The Government also made it law to self-isolate following a positive Covid-19 test with fines of up to £10,000 for those who do not stick to the rules.

Mr Johnson told the Commons: "In the last fortnight, daily hospital admissions in England have more than doubled. Tens of thousands of daily infections in October would, as night follows day, lead to hundreds of daily deaths in November and those numbers would continue to grow unless we act."

In all of England there have been 171 deaths among victims in the last week within 28 days of a postiive Covid-19 test. The same figure a month ago was 59.

NHS figures reveal 1,881 coronavirus patients currently in hospitals in England compared to 430 a month ago — with 356 requiring ventilators compared to 56 a month ago.