THE number of people in the county’s hospitals with coronavirus is at its highest ever according to the latest figures.

NHS data shows 224 patients were in hospital with coronavirus on January 5 – the latest figure currently available.

The figures also show half of the people admitted to acute hospitals in Worcestershire have been in the last two and a half months.

New daily government figures, which will also soon show the number of vaccines given, show how many people were in hospital with Covid-19 and how this has changed since March.

A total of 224 people were being cared for by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, and 50 people were being cared for by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trust.

Of those 224 people, 11 were on ventilator beds.

The data also shows how the number of people admitted to acute hospitals with Covid-19 has soared in recent months.

A total of 661 people had been admitted to hospital by May 31 and had reached 732 people by September 30.

As many as 775 people had been admitted to the care of the acute hospital trust by October 19 and that figure had more than doubled by January 5.

The last time the amount of people in hospital was as close to the current figures before December was 141 on April 6.

The figures show a total of 1,879 people have been admitted to both trusts up to January 3 – 1,554 of which were admitted to the hospital trust.

A total of 29 people were admitted to hospital on December 1 – the highest figure in most recent times.

A total of 23 people were admitted on January 3 – the latest day available.

The highest number of people admitted to hospital on one day was 40 on April 4.

A total of 16 people were admitted to hospital with coronavirus on December 31 – the most recent figure available.