Covid-19 patients in hospital reaches highest level since April

22 June 2021, 20:37 | Updated: 22 June 2021, 22:40

The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 in the UK has risen to its highest level for nearly two months.

A total of 1,378 patients were in hospital on 20 June, according to the latest Government figures, up 21 per cent from the previous week.

It is also more than 50 per cent higher than the figure recorded on May 27, which saw the lowest figure since the second wave of the virus.

However, the figures are still well below those recorded at the peak of the second wave, which saw over 39,000 patients in hospital on 18 January.

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The figures come as the average number of daily reported cases of Covid-19 in the UK topped 10,000 for the first time since late February.

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Normally, the Government also releases figures for the number of people who have been vaccinated, as well as cases and hospital admissions.

However, an IT system crash on Monday afternoon has caused a delay to the daily vaccination numbers being published, according to NHS England.

The issue resulted in clinicians being unable to log who had received their jab via the usual digital method, and instead had to record it with pen and paper.

Now the system is back up and running the data needs to be manually entered, which will be time consuming given that several hundred thousand doses are being administered each day.

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"Following the IT issue that was reported to the NHS yesterday (21 June), the daily Covid-19 statistics will be updated tomorrow, while vaccinations recorded yesterday are updated to the digital system," the NHS England website said.

"The issue is now resolved and there has been no impact on vaccinations taking place."

The technical glitch affected vaccine hubs across England at around 1.30pm on Monday.

People were still urged to get their jab if they had a booking, as it would cause no difference to the service.

The problem was also an isolated incident, meaning the public could still access the booking site as normal.