Rapid increase in hospital Covid patients

A spokesperson for The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said that as of Wednesday morning, hospital staff were treating 40 inpatients with the virus  — up nine from the previous week —with two in critical care.

Two more people died after testing positive for the virus, bringing the hospital’s total so far to 656.

It has treated a total of 3,175 patients with the virus since the start of the pandemic.

The borough’s seven-day infection rate in the week to September 30 was 449.8 per 100,000 people, down 11 per cent on the previous week but still above the national average of 348.4.