Number of people in London hospital beds continues to drop

It's a sign social distancing measures are making a difference.

The number of coronavirus hospitalisations are beginning to stabilise and plateau, according to NHS England’s Chief Medical Director.

Prof Stephen Powis said a drop in the use of hospital beds in areas including London and the Midlands is a sign that social distancing measures are making a difference. He said the vast majority of the public have been compliant with the Covid-19 lockdown but urged Britons to ‘keep it that way’ as the country tries to find a way through the health crisis.

Speaking at today’s Downing Street press conference, Prof Powis said: ‘You can see that there is increasing evidence now that the number of hospital admissions is stabilising and plateauing. This is evidence that is accumulating and showing the benefits of social distancing.

‘The number of deaths in the UK is continuing to rise, this is the number that will reduce last unfortunately. But those benefits form social distancing will eventually translate into a reduction of the number of daily deaths.

‘We are beginning to see the benefits of the undoubted hardship that we’ve all been asked of socially distancing and not meeting friends and family, but it is really important that those benefits are maintained and that we continue to follow instructions and get on top of this virus.’

Prof Powis pointed out that not everyone showing symptoms is being tested so the data does not show a ‘complete reflection’, but the latest figures do look promising.

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Director for Health Protection and Medical Director Dr Yvonne Doyle said that death toll figures are more complicated when cases in care homes are taken into account.

She added: ‘There are fewer hospitals compared to care homes, so we are working with fewer amount of organisations. [Hospital trusts] have already been sending data on a regular basis, aside from the current times.

‘We in the hospital sector have a infrastructure basis to get that data rapidly.’

She said 9 out of 10ve deaths have taken place in hospital. Dr Doyle added: ‘[This virus] doesn’t distinguish between the vulnerable and of course they will not be immune either.

‘Local teams with our support and guidance will be in there providing advice and negotiating the mitigation of this virus.

‘They can be a challenging group as many of these resident may have dementia and it is important it is a humane response as well. It is a very different response to hospitals.’

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said there are tens of thousands of care homes to collect data from, making the process more complicated.

Reassuring staff battling the outbreak beyond the country’s hospital wards, he said: ‘You’ve absolutely not been forgotten .There is an enormous amount of focus…. when we clap every week we are clapping for people everywhere who are caring.’

Sunak said there is ‘no truth’ in claims companies had been told to prioritise Personal Protective Equipment for hospitals in England compared to those in Scotland.

He said: ‘There’s no truth in those stories, that those companies had been told to prioritise PPE equipment.

‘Rather, the contrary is actually happening… there has been incredibly close collaboration between our four nations in this regard.’

Dr Doyle reiterated that the four chief medical officers in the UK have been working closely together throughout the crisis.

She added: ‘Public Health England has not, in any sense, directed any of the devolved administrations to be at any disadvantage. We work really closely together.’

The Chancellor insisted that the Government was right to force all non-essential businesses to shut after the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted a 35% fall in GDP.

Insisting the economy will ‘bounce back quickly’ after the lockdown, he added: ‘The OBR have been clear that if we have not taken the actions we have the situation would be much worse, in other words, our plan is the right plan.’

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