The number of Covid patients in Derbyshire's hospitals has almost halved since mid-January, new figures show.

At January's peak, Royal Derby Hospital, Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Queen's Hospital in Burton were treating a total of 709 Covid patients.

Now, three weeks later, that figure has fallen by almost half to 380 Covid patients.

This is a huge reduction but our hospital trusts are still treating more Covid patients than at the peak of the first wave last April.

Queen's Hospital in Burton is treating 91 Covid patients, below the peak level it saw during the first wave.

This is down a quarter from 120 patients with the virus last week and nearly 40 per cent down from two weeks ago, when the hospital hit an all-time high of 151 patients.

Its first wave high was around 100.

Queen's Hospital staff are currently treating eight patients with the virus in intensive care, which is around its first wave peak but down from 12 two weeks ago, a large number for a town hospital, rather than one based in a city.

The hospital's parent organisation, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust's, which also oversees Royal Derby, had a first wave high of 252 Covid patients, a level which it continues to exceed.

The reduction in Covid inpatients is being labelled as a "welcome relief" but local health officials are aware that this is still a significant number of patients at the same time, with the same illness, at a level unheard of before the Covid pandemic.

Over the summer our hospitals were often treating just a handful of Covid patients and frequently did not have any inpatients with the virus at all.

It has taken a sustained period of national lockdown to get to this halfway mark and health officials are urging locals to "maintain discipline" by wearing face coverings, keeping good hand hygiene and keeping socially distant, along with following official restrictions.

Royal Derby Hospital is currently treating 182 Covid patients.

This is down a third in the past week when it had 258 patients with the virus and down more than a half from 388 Covid patients a month ago – its all-time record and more than double the first wave (in the 160s).

There are 19 Covid patients in Royal Derby's intensive care unit, a figure which has remained fairly steady for the past month, remaining lower than the first wave peak (around 30) due to further treatment options and better understanding of the virus.

Gavin Boyle, chief executive at the Derby and Burton Trust said: "Over the last week we've seen the numbers of Covid-19 patients in our hospitals begin to fall steadily. This is a welcome relief.

"We currently have just under 300 patients with Covid-19 with us. This is significantly fewer than the level only a couple of weeks ago but still higher than the peak of wave one.

"Consequently the hospitals are still under considerable pressure and this is no time to lower our guard.

"We need to maintain our discipline in relation to infection control measures and continue to follow the rules as we have done so far."