Covid Situation Report: Apr 18, 2024
Update on Covid providing information on prevalence and hospital admissions for England and its regions. This post is best viewed using the browser or Substack app.
Introduction.
This report is part of a weekly series that summarises the Covid situation in England and its regions.
This week's report is shorter than usual as not all of the data that was previously included is now available on a weekly basis. Where relevant, changes to the content and data sources have been noted.
Summary.
Once again this week’s news is positive, as the Covid metrics indicate that the winter surge is over. Nonetheless, Covid has not vanished entirely, with stable, though comparatively low, numbers of hospital admissions still being reported.
There has been a small rise in the Covid positivity rate this week , while the rates for Flu and other respiratory viruses have continued to fall. Nevertheless, the positivity rates for all these viruses remain relatively low.
Weekly hospital admission rates for Covid remained unchanged but continued to fall for Flu.
Over the past week, a few regions have seen a small rise in hospital admissions due to Covid, yet their rates continue to be low.
The Spring 2024 booster campaign for people aged 75 years and over, those in care homes, and individuals aged 6 months and over with a weakened immune system has now started. Details of how to get a Spring Covid vaccine are here.
It is always important to remember that the risk of hospitalisation increases significantly with age and for those who are immunocompromised. Also ‘Long Covid’ remains a risk for all. Therefore, it is prudent to take appropriate measures such as self-isolating when experiencing Covid symptoms and enhancing ventilation whenever possible.
Status of main respiratory diseases in England.
The chart below displays the positivity rates, which are the percentages of tests taken that are positive, for the primary respiratory illnesses in England, including Flu, Covid, RSV, and Rhinovirus.
There was a small rise in the Covid positivity rate to 4.2% this week, yet it remains at a low level. The positivity rate for flu decreased for the fifth week in a row to 2.7% and is now well below that of Covid. Additionally, the rates for RSV and Rhinovirus have continued to fall.
The following chart shows hospital admissions per 100,000 people in England for the main respiratory diseases.
Weekly hospital admission rates for Covid and the Flu remain low, with Covid admissions stable and Flu admissions on a downward trend.
The next panel chart in this section shows Covid hospital admissions per 100,000 people by region.
While there have been minor increases in hospital admissions for Covid in certain areas, such as the West Midlands, the overall admission rate continues to be low and stable across the regions.
Hover your cursor over one of the chart lines to display the admission rates for all regions.
The final panel chart shows Covid hospital admissions per 100,000 people by age. Each panel represents one age group and the title and lines are colour coded. The grey lines show all of the other age groups to provide context
All age groups have seen significant reductions from the winter peak and have now stabilised at relatively low levels.
The charts also show the age difference for hospital admissions with almost all admissions being over 75 years old. This was an important factor considered by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) who are recommending that only over 75s and the clinically vulnerable will be eligible for the Spring 2024 Covid booster campaign
It's important to note that while testing policies have been updated from April 1, 2024, the guidelines for testing patients showing Covid symptoms or when a positive result would change the patient's treatment remained unchanged. Consequently, the number of Covid hospital admissions continues to be a dependable indicator of the virus's prevalence in the community for the period shown in these charts.
Covid hospital admissions and bed occupancy.
This section gives a more detailed examination of the most recent daily Covid data for hospitals in England.
NHS England stopped the weekly publication of data used to create these dashboards from April 4, 2024. As a result, the next update of the daily Covid data for hospitals in England will be on May 9, 2024.
In conclusion
Despite the reduced level of data, the available information indicates that Covid levels have remained relatively low and stable.
As always, if you have any comments on this Covid Situation Report or suggestions for topics to cover, please post a message below.
Another excellent report. You’re providing an invaluable service, Bob. Please keep going for all our sakes
Hi Bob, thanks for the report. A question: when you say: "there was a small rise in the Covid positivity rate to 4.2% this week, yet it remains at a low level", does this mean that one in 23 people (100/4.2) have Covid? That doesn't sound 'low' to me: the final winter infection survey reported one in 143 people infected. Or am I doing the wrong calculation ?