There are now more than 100 Covid-19 patients in Derby and Burton's hospitals – a 50 per cent increase since Christmas.

Shortly before Christmas (December 22), there were 78 Covid patients at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital in Burton, of which four were in intensive care.

Just over two weeks later and after the festive season and its associated gatherings, this has now risen by 50 per cent to 117 patients, its highest level for most of the past year.

Of those patients, 92 are at Royal Derby and 25 are at Queen's. Five Covid patients are in intensive care, all at Royal Derby.

The number of hospital inpatients, while higher than it has been for many months, remains far lower than the level it reached this time last year, with the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust hitting more than 500 Covid patients towards the end of January 2021.

This is as a result of widespread vaccination and due to the development of treatments which can often keep patients out of hospital and particularly intensive care.

Early evidence at the moment also suggests that the Omicron variant, which has led to the huge and unprecedented current peak in cases, is causing a milder illness. This appears to be supported locally with five times fewer Covid patients in our hospitals, matching the picture seen nationally.

Dean Wallace and Robyn Dewis, Derbyshire and Derby's public health directors, have repeated throughout the pandemic that a key threat to the more vulnerable is a situation in which there is a large amount of community Covid-19 infection.

Even with preventative measures and vaccination, if there is a high level of infection in a community it is far more likely that those most at risk will contract the virus.

This is a core reason why officials and community leaders have stressed the importance of vaccination to protect others, including yourself, and to act to reduce the spread of the virus to prevent others from falling ill, as well as yourself.

The latest figures show a monumental spike in Covid cases over the past few weeks to heights never before seen during the pandemic.

Up until the Omicron wave which hit the UK throughout December, Derbyshire had recorded a peak of 6,013 cases in a single week – October 8-14.

However, this has been well and truly eclipsed with the new latest peak – recorded from December 26 to January 1 – of 19,669 cases. This is in excess of three times the previous peak and the number continues to increase.

For further comparison, the same week in the previous year saw 4,085 cases recorded in Derbyshire – nearly five times less.

Derbyshire recorded 10,704 cases in December 2020 but this number has increased due to the surge in Omicron cases in December 2021 with 44,841 cases recorded.

Meanwhile, Derby saw its first ever day recording in excess of 1,000 cases on Wednesday, December 29, recording 1,091 cases (which is still subject to change due to delays in data collection).

This is three times its previous peak of 335 cases on January 11, 2021, nearly a year ago.

The figure of 1,091 cases is more than the number the city recorded in March, April and May combined (1,047).

Looking at the latest data regarding deaths attributed to Covid in Derbyshire we can see that 19 people died from the virus in the week to December 17, up from nine in the week to December 10.

This is comparable to the same number of people who died from Covid in the same weeks last year – despite case levels being far higher. This is attributable to vaccination and improved treatments.

The latest Covid vaccination figures show that as of January 3, 87.4 per cent of everyone aged 12 and up in Derbyshire has had a Covid vaccine.

Alongside this, 81.9 per cent of everyone aged 12 and up in Derbyshire has had two vaccine doses – though many 12-15-year-olds will not yet be eligible for a second dose (there is a requirement for 12 weeks between doses).

A total of 64 per cent of everyone aged 12 and up in Derbyshire has had a Covid booster jab, though these are only for adults and children who are immunocompromised.

Gavin Boyle, chief executive at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I want to thank everyone at UHDB, the housekeeping and cleaning teams, porters, nursing staff, doctors, AHPs, admin colleagues; everyone has pulled together to push through these challenging times.

"It's been a different festive season for many of our staff, some of them, like the communities we serve, have been affected by Covid-19 while others have had to flex their family plans to be at work and care for the patients who needed us. It's been busy and we're still caring for more than 100 patients with Covid-19, although thankfully relatively few need the help of our critical care units.

"The best thing you can do to help us is to have the vaccine to keep yourself and your loved ones safe over winter, it's the best defence we have against Covid-19."