Patients in hospital with Covid in Bolton  have almost trebled in just over a month.

There were 27 patients in hospital with the virus on June 1 and that has more than doubled.

On July 8, the hospital was treating 85 patients with Covid, according to the latest data published by the Government.

On July 6 there were 102 people in Royal Bolton Hospital with covid.

There have also been seven more coronavirus deaths recorded over the last week in the borough.

Cllr Susan Baines, Executive Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, said: "The overall hospital admission rate of confirmed Covid-19 patients in England has increased to 14.59 per 100,000 people, however intensive and high dependency admissions have remained generally low.

"Bolton hospital is seeing a similar trend and staff are working hard.

"The vaccination process is continuing to save lives.

"I would urge everyone not to be complacent and to continue to prioritise washing their hands and if they feel unwell to stay at home."

Nationally, the number of patients testing positive for the virus continues to rise, driven by the latest wave of infections.

Not only are the admissions jumping but the staff absences at NHS hospitals in England due to Covid-19 have also jumped to their highest level for nearly three months, putting further pressure on health teams struggling to clear a record backlog of treatment, new figures show.

An average of 22,918 hospital staff in England were absent each day in the week to July 6, either because they were sick with Covid-19 or were self-isolating.

This was up 30 per cetb on the previous week, and is the highest since 23,813 absences in the week to April 20.

The figure is below the level reached at the peak of the first Omicron wave of infections in early January, when absences due to coronavirus averaged nearly 54,000.

But the rise mirrors other data showing Covid is becoming steadily more prevalent, with the potential to cause further disruption to health and care services.

Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said: “There is no doubt the NHS still faces significant pressures, from rising Covid admissions, thousands of staff absences due to the virus, the heatwave, and record demand for ambulances and emergency care.

“While the current heatwave is not shown in today’s figures, it also affects NHS capacity – but it remains important that anyone needing emergency care dials 999, and the public use 111 online and local pharmacies for other health issues and advice.”