THE Countess of Chester Hospital has sadly recorded its worst week for coronavirus patient deaths since the start of the pandemic, latest figures show – but there are signs the situation is improving.

The latest weekly NHS England figures showed the rate of new Covid patient admissions to the hospital had fallen significantly over the past week (January 25-January 31), and the number of Covid patients in hospital had fallen to 153 at 8am on February 2 – down by almost a third from the previous week, when there were 229 patients at 8am on January 27.

Of the 153 patients, 15 are on mechanical ventilator beds.

The hospital had recorded a peak of 290 Covid patients being treated at The Countess on January 21.

However, sadly, a total of 46 Covid patient deaths have been recorded at the hospital between January 26-February 1.

That is by some way the worst week for Covid patient deaths at the hospital.

But there are encouraging signs that will not be repeated in future weeks.

One is there are fewer Covid patient admissions, meaning the number of Covid patients overall at the hospital is dropping significantly.

Another is the declining Covid infection rate in west Cheshire, which had been as high as 625.5 per 100,000 for the seven days up to January 4, the day England started its third lockdown. As of the latest available seven-day period – up to January 30 – that had fallen to 274.6.

Finally, the fact nearly nine in 10 people aged 80 and above have received their first Covid-19 vaccination will mean these residents will, over the next few weeks, have additional protection against the virus – more so when they get their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

As well as this, the rate of people being vaccinated nationally is increasing week to week, with further vaccination hubs opening up across the region.