23 more die at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, which is treating 248 patients as resort dodges Tier 4 restrictions

In his weekly Covid-19 briefing this afternoon, Dr Jim Gardner said there are now 148 Covid-positive patients in hospital on the Fylde coast, up from 128 last week.

"In fact, the last time we were at 148 was pretty much exactly a month ago," he said. "So the numbers went down a little bit and I'm sorry to say have come back up again."

Some 14 people are in the Clifton Hospital in St Annes, 127 in general coronavirus beds at the Vic, and seven in intensive care.

Dr Gardner said: "In addition, there are another 100 patients who are in hospital who have had a diagnosis of Covid but are beyond 14 days [of a positive test] so they are a little bit hidden in the statistics, but if you add them together that's 248 and not 148, so you can see the pressure that places on the whole of the organisation and our bed-base.

"Our emergency department has remained very busy and the number of ambulances coming has been very high.

"As I often say, if you really have some urgent health needs but you think they are not an emergency, please will you check with 111 or check with your GP practice and think very carefully before coming up to our emergency department?"

Dr Gardner said the hospital is trying to segregate patients "as best as we can" to reduce the risk of Covid.

Some 23 new virus-related deaths have been reported at the Whinney Heys Road hospital in the past week, he also said.

He added: "They are either with Covid or of Covid and condolences to all concerned for that.

"I think it's fair to say we are seeing a slightly higher death rate in hospital, [and] possibly a slightly lower death rate in care homes and community settings because of the way patients are moving at this moment in time.

"And if you think about our 148 positive patients, of those 132 - so 89 per cent - are over the age of 65, and 55 are over the age of 85, so we are talking about a group of often very frail, elderly patients with lots of other conditions who are poorly in hospital."

Dr Gardner urged people to be responsible over Christmas, and said the "real risk" was younger family members passing the virus onto older loved ones.

"We all have a responsibility to behave really carefully," he said.

He said the hospital's vaccine programme was "progressing really well", though The Gazette reported earlier that some appointments at GP practices have been cancelled because "logistical" challenges saw some jabs fail to arrive on the Fylde coast.

"We have now immunised over 2,000 members of the public or of our own staff or care home staff," he added, with 200 injections given every day.

"We are now seeing the roll-out of the immunisation programme into primary care networks and general practices, so the over-80s are particularly a priority group and you will be on somebody's list and will be contacted to be given a time to come in."

Dr Gardner said there had been some reports of "scamming" and said people should make sure letters are authentic, but did not elaborate.

He said Covid tests are now in good supply and said anyone with the key symptoms - a new, continuous cough; fever; or loss of smell of taste - to apply for one by dialling 119 or go to the Government's website.

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