THE number of Covid-positive patients being treated at Oldham’s hospital trust is falling but those in the most serious condition remains stubbornly high.

Figures released on Friday reveal Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs The Royal Oldham Hospital, was caring for 178 coronavirus patients as of Tuesday.

The NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on February 16 was down from 188 at the same day the previous week and 214 the a fortnight ago.

Cases peaked at Pennine Acute Hospitals on January 18 with 278 patients being cared for on that date.

This was mirrored across England with the number of hospital patients with Covid-19 rose from 26,467 on January 5 to a record 34,336 on January 18, before falling to the current level of 20,156 as of February 16.

The number of patients in serious enough condition to be on ventilation, however, has only slightly dropped as of February 16.

On Tuesday there were 32 people on ventilators at the trust compared with 33 the week before.

This figure has hovered at around 30 since January 4 and due to the length of time some need critical care for Covid is likely to be final indicator to fall.

New hospital admissions are continuing to drop, with an estimated 95 patients admitted at Pennine Acute Hospitals with Covid in the seven days to February 14. This compares with 119 the week before.

January saw the highest number of patients in hospital with Covid across Pennine Acute Hospitals, since records began on March 19.

There were 815 coronavirus patients in hospital during that month – 19 per cent out of a total of 4,231 from the start of the pandemic to the end of January.

August saw the lowest number of coronavirus patients with just 37 for the entire month.