More than 10% of Covid patients in hospital caught virus there

Around 5,700 to 11,900 people were infected with Covid in hospital during the first wave, according to a new study
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More than 1 in 10 people in hospital with Covid during the first wave caught the virus while they were there, according to a new study.

The research, taken out by nine UK universities and published in the Lancet, analysed hospital data from two-thirds of Covid patients who fell ill last year.

They estimate between 5,700 and 11,900 people were infected in hospital.

One of the researchers, Prof Calum Semple, from the University of Liverpool told the BBC: “There will be tragedy behind this story, people that came into hospital with one problem, caught Covid and sadly died.”

However Prof Sample said there were major discrepancies in between hospitals, with some managing to contain the virus well while others did not.

“Even hospitals with literally thousands of patients coming in there are outstanding examples of infection control,” he said.

“There’s a number of factors - we know there were challenges around PPE [personal protective (or protection) equipment] at the start.”

The research also found that the design of some hospitals may have affected how easily the virus spread.

The lack of testing was also a huge issue in the first wave. Hospital patients are now tested and separated depending if they test positive to Covid-19.

According to the study, more than two-thirds of Covid cases in mental-health hospitals were caught there.

The average proportion of cases caught in hospital was 11 per cent in the first wave but now stands at 2-5 per cent despite the emergence of the more infectious Delta variant, first identified in India, reported the BBC.

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