HUNDREDS of people in hospitals in north Essex are fighting Covid as admissions remain high, latest figures show.

The number of beds at East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) occupied by people who tested positive for Covid has more than tripled in the past four weeks.

NHS England data shows ESNEFT - which runs hospitals including Colchester, Clacton and Harwich - was caring for 300 patients with coronavirus as of Tuesday - 28 days ago, there were 78.

This was also up from 267 on the same day the previous week.

Read more >>> Revealed: This is how many Covid patients are being treated by hospital trust

Across England there were 16,552 people in hospital with 319 of them in mechanical ventilation beds including one at ESNEFT.

The number of Covid patients hospitalised nationally has increased by 80 per cent in the past month, while the number on mechanical ventilators has increased by 32 per cent.

Figures also show 209 new Covid patients were admitted to hospitals in the north Essex trust in the week to April 3.

The figures nationally are close to the total seen in the first Covid wave in spring 2020.

Covid deaths have also risen in north Essex.

There had been nine deaths in Colchester in the past seven days as of Thursday, an increase of 350 per cent compared to the previous week.

In Tendring, there had been 18 deaths, also an increase of 350 per cent.

Read more >>> Surprising symptom that could be a sign you need to test for Covid

These figures may be affected by a data error which saw thousands of deaths across England added retrospectively on Wednesday.

However, recorded infections in Colchester and Tendring have dropped significantly since the end of free testing.

A total of 1,201 people had a confirmed positive test result in Colchester as of Thursday, since free testing ended on April 1. This is down 33 per cent compared to the previous week.

A similar trend was seen in Tendring, where 1,023 people had a confirmed positive test result, down 24.1 per cent.

These figures come as a new sub-variant of Omicron has been found in the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would be “irresponsible” to rule out further lockdowns as the nation feels the impact of the new strain.