County Durham and Darlington Trust was caring for 89 coronavirus patients in hospital as of Wednesday, figures show.

NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on October 5 was up from 71 on the same day the previous week.

Read more: Gateshead and Northumberland make top five UK Covid hotspots

The number of beds at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 increased by 41% in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 63.

Across England there were 9,631 people in hospital with Covid as of October 5, with 195 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has increased by 98% in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has increased by 67%.

The figures also show that 88 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in the week to October 3. This was up from 53 in the previous seven days.

it comes as two North East areas feature in the top five in a new list of the areas of the UK with the most Covid infections.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that Gateshead was the area with the second-highest number of cases in the country in the week up to 1 October.

Meanwhile, Northumberland came in fifth place on the list with 413 cases in the county.

The data shows that Plymouth is the most infected area of the UK, while Gateshead in second place is followed by North Somerset and the Isle of Wight. After Northumberland the areas with the highest cases are Dorset, York, East Riding of Yorkshire, Hampshire and then Devon.

According to the ONS, an estimated 1.3 million people in the UK were infected with the virus in the week leading up to 24 September. The new figures reveal that infections are on the rise across England, with the elderly encouraged to get their autumn booster, The Mirror reports .

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