No new COVID admissions as flu levels fall

As reported by the BBC, no hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19 were recorded in Wales for the first time since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest data

Cases of seasonal flu in Wales are also at their lowest levels since October, the latest weekly figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) showed.

Hospital inpatient cases of flu and other acute respiratory infections (ARI) are falling after an early January peak and only one patient was being treated primarily for COVID in critical care.

In the first week of January, about one in five patients in hospital had an acute respiratory infection (ARI) – either flu, COVID or respiratory syncytial virus. Numbers in hospital beds peaked at 1,900 but have dropped for two consecutive weeks and ARI patients now make up about nine per cent of those in hospital.

This will ease pressure on hospitals, which have been facing rising demand at the front doors and with about 1,000 patients at any one time ready for discharge but delayed because support packages or care home beds are not ready.

The number of patients testing positive for COVID has also been falling steadily; for the first since the pandemic began, no admissions of patients with COVID were recorded on 24 January. The previous low had been just one admission on two days in May and June 2022.

The number of patients testing positive for COVID in hospital beds in Wales averaged 241 a day in the week to 24 January – down by a third on the week before and nearly two thirds on the month before.

The picture in the community showed flu cases were falling, although Public Health Wales said the virus was still circulating.

There were 68 flu cases reported – the lowest weekly total since mid-October, fewer people were calling NHS 111 for advice about symptoms and the GP consultation rate for flu has also dropped below the low intensity threshold.