Covid-19 patients in hospitals in England have surged by 62% in a week, the first NHS data released after Christmas revealed.
Daily UK infection figures went unpublished on Christmas Day and Boxing Day at a time when a Government decision on possible restrictions is in the balance.
Hospitalisations spikes usually trail surges in case numbers by around a fortnight and Boris Johnson has been delaying any new curbs until it is clear that the NHS could be overwhelmed.
New data for England reveals the speed of Covid admissions growth increased.
The latest seven-day average of new Covid cases recorded for 24 December was 2,117, which is 62% up on 1,305 a week previously.
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson told Times Radio: “I think we’re all looking at the data really, really carefully.
“The bit that we just simply don’t know yet is that most of the Covid-19 admissions tend to be in people who are younger.
“So what we’re really waiting to see is exactly what is going to happen over the next few days, or week, particularly because we know there was a lot of intergenerational mixing at Christmas.”
Mr Hopson said the country needed to be “ready to bring in tighter protections in terms of restrictions on social contact” if admissions continued to rise.
The new data, released late on Boxing Day, showed the rate of increase in hospital patients with Covid in London had slowed.
The capital has been the epicentre of the UK’s Omicron surge and its hospitals are already under extreme pressure.
The London seven-day sum of admissions is the highest since February 8 while for England as a whole England it is the highest since February 23.
The England the seven-day total admissions on 24 December was recorded as 7,338, up 36% up on a week ago.
The seven-day average for Covid admissions in the North West was up 47% on a week ago as of December 24.
In the East of England this is up 39% on a week ago, while the Midlands this is up 36%, and in the North East and Yorkshire 31% up.
A hospital doctors’ trade union has urged ministers to urgently limit household mixing and introduce compulsory table service in hospitality venues in England.
Similar measures have already been introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Dr Paul Donaldson, the general secretary of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, warned that “it would be ludicrous” for the Prime Minister not to act and that Christmas mingling would inevitably have spread Covid.
“There is a high probability we are moving too late,” said Donaldson, a consultant microbiologist.
“We will soon start to see the impact of Christmas.
“We are holding out hope that Hospitalisations are at the lower end of projections. But given the uncertainty we face it would be ludicrous not to take additional precautions.”
Prof Adam Finn, of Bristol University, and a member of the JCVI, said: “Clearly there are still large numbers of new cases being detected.
“I assume that hospital bed occupancy and staff absences due to isolation rules will be the critical factors on the public health side of any decision.”
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