More than 50 people in our area were in hospital with confirmed coronavirus last Tuesday - and nine of them needed help to breathe.
The latest figures from NHS England, released this morning (October 26), give the most recent details of the admissions and diagnoses of coronavirus patients by hospital trust.
They show there were 54 hospital inpatients with a positive Covid-19 test in the Bristol region as of Tuesday, October 20 - up from 18 at the start of the month.
All of the patients were in a hospital in Bristol, Bath or Weston-super-Mare.
The vast majority (33) were in Bristol’s Southmead Hospital or another hospital run by the North Bristol NHS Trust.
Fifteen were in the Bristol Royal Infirmary or Weston General Hospital or another inpatient unit run by the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
Another six patients were in Bath’s Royal United Hospital or another site managed by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.
Altogether nine patients were in a bed with a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe - three in Southmead Hospital, five at the Bristol and Weston trust, and one in Bath.
An additional two patients in a bed at the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust had tested positive for Covid-19, but neither needed ventilation.
The figures show the number of patients in hospital following a positive Covid-19 test, but not necessarily every patient was admitted due to the virus.
Some either contracted Covid-19 inside the hospital or were admitted for unrelated reasons but subsequently tested positive asymptomatically when given routine tests.
NHS England figures also show that the last Covid-positive patient to die in a hospital in our region was in Southmead Hospital on September 24.
As of 8am October 20, there were 217 hospital beds occupied by patients confirmed as having Covid-19 in the South West of England.
This was lower than any other area in England.
The data included NHS hospitals as well as private hospitals.
