COVID-19 hospitalisations have spiked in hospitals run by the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust, figures show.

A total of 85 coronavirus patients were in hospitals run by the trust on Tuesday – an increase on the figure recorded last week, when the number sat at 63.

Four weeks ago, the number of patients being treated for Covid-19 in Ipswich, Colchester, Harwich and Clacton hospitals was just 28.

It follows a national trend which has seen the number of Covid-19 hospitalised patients double in the last 28 days.

The number of people who were on mechanical ventilators in England is also up, with a 72 per cent increase recorded by NHS England.

As of Tuesday, June 28, there were 8,120 people in hospital with Covid – 205 of whom were on mechanical ventilation beds.

Tendring has also seen one more coronavirus death recorded this week.

A total of 750 people had died in the area when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Thursday, June 30, which is up from the figure of 749 recorded on Wednesday.

In June, Covid-19 infections rose in Britain for the first time in two months following a Covid-19 sub-variant, which also caused a spike of cases in Colchester and Tendring.