This is the latest on coronavirus at Chesterfield Royal Hospital

On Tuesday afternoon, staff were looking after 110 Covid-19 patients – 15 of whom require critical care.

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The trust has recorded a total of 225 deaths related to coronavirus.

The hospital expressed its condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one during the pandemic.

Since March, nearly 950 Covid-19 patients have been discharged home after being treated at the Royal.

On Monday night, a hospital spokesperson said: “We are now looking after more inpatients with a positive diagnosis of Covid-19 than we were during the April peak.

“The demand on our services also continues to rise which brings with it additional challenges.

“This means that we have, as expected, further escalated our plans to ensure we have the capacity at our hospital to give all of our patients the immediate care they need during an ever-changing situation.

“The situation we find ourselves in is challenging and, in order to free up capacity and ensure we have more intensive care space, the difficult decision has been made to postpone elective surgery for the remainder of the week.

“All affected patients are being contacted immediately, will be informed about the next steps of their treatment and our clinical teams are constantly reviewing the situation to ensure we can reinstate surgeries as soon as we possibly can.”

Under a third national lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday night, people can only leave home to shop for basic necessities, to go to work if jobs cannot be done from home, to exercise with household members or one other person preferably just once a day, to meet those in support or childcare bubbles, to seek help and to escape domestic abuse.

The hospital spokesperson added: “The new variant of the virus spreads more quickly and has been impacting hospitals across the country.

“It is absolutely crucial that we all follow the Government guidelines.”

Derbyshire Covid-19 positive tests per 100,000 people in the latest week (December 25 to December 31)

Amber Valley: 467

Bolsover: 334

Chesterfield: 233

Derby: 466

Derbyshire Dales: 200

Erewash: 307

High Peak: 224

North East Derbyshire: 290

South Derbyshire: 337

England national average: 453

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Editor’s message

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