Chesterfield Hospital chiefs hopeful that Covid inpatient numbers are starting to fall

There are currently 52 Covid patients at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, some way off its respective first peak high in mid April.

It has 10 Covid patients in intensive care, below its peak of 17 in early April.

In total, it has had 756 Covid-positive admissions since the start of the pandemic.

Of these, 587 have been successfully discharged, while 169 Covid patients have sadly died.

Hospital chiefs hope that this week, the number of Covid inpatients will begin to fall.

This would be a sign that the level of infections in Chesterfield is reducing.

It is also a core piece of information being used to see if Covid restrictions, lockdown or the tier regional system, are required to quash the spread of the virus throughout winter.

However, Matt Hanock, the health secretary, said it was still too early to know if lockdown will need to be extended from December 2.

Dr Susan Hopkins, deputy director at Public Health England, also said that she expects to start seeing cases in the community declining over the coming week – towards two weeks into lockdown.

But she added that a strengthened tier system may be needed, with tier two not working in some areas.

Derbyshire has only ever seen tier two restrictions so far, but most areas of the county, including the city, were only given these mitigations for five days before lockdown.

Health chiefs have consistently said it typically takes two weeks to see the effect of Covid restrictions on community infections.