The trust which runs Colchester Hospital has seen a rise in Covid-19 patients being cared for in its hospitals, latest figures show.

NHS England data shows East Suffolk and North Essex Trust was caring for 55 coronavirus patients in its hospitals as of 8am on Tuesday.

This number was up from 47 on the same day the previous week and has increased by 38 per cent in the last four weeks.

The figures also show 40 new Covid patients were admitted to trust hospitals in the week to September 5.

This was up from 33 in the previous seven days.

There were also six patients in hospital beds with a mechanical ventilator.

Public Health England data shows 630 people had a comfirmed positive test result for coronavirus in the Colchester area between September 3 and September 9.

This was an increase of 36 per cent compared to the previous week.

However, there was a decrease in the number of deaths in that time period within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus.

There were two deaths, 66 per cent less than the previous seven days.

Figures also revealed 138,715 people in Colchester had been given a first dose of the Covid vaccine by September 8.

In addition, 124,745 people had been given a second dose, 73 per cent of those aged 16 and over.

The UK’s vaccine advisory body is set to decide whether booster doses against Covid-19 are needed this autumn.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has said a third top-up dose should be offered to people with severely weakened immune systems, which accounts for up to half a million people in the UK.

But it has not decided if booster doses are needed to extend protection in larger numbers of people at high risk from Covid-19, including those normally eligible for a flu jab.

Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, who helped to develop the Oxford-AZ vaccine, said the vaccines are still providing strong protection, a year on from the initial two doses.

She told the BBC that offering a third booster dose to millions of people was “a complex decision”.

Blood tests on volunteers who had been vaccinated more than a year ago, showed they had signs of good protection.

“It’s the first dose of the vaccine that has the most impact, whoever you give that vaccine to,” she said.

“We get good protection after a single dose and then it’s improved by a second dose and we would expect to see it being maintained or possibly slightly improved then by third dose.

“As we would expect, with any other vaccine, we are seeing strong maintenance of the [immune] response.”