OVER the past couple of weeks, the Covid-19 situation in Bradford has darkened as England has been in the grip of a third wave; this is how much worse things have got.

The figures look at the most recent figures available on cases, infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths, compared with those two weeks prior.

Following the discovery of a new strain of Covid-19 in the South East, the entirety of the South East and London and vast swathes of the East of England, as well as North West and North East, are now in the grip of a third wave of the Covid pandemic. West Yorkshire is one of the least affected areas, but cases are now rising in the county.

Pressure on hospitals has grown as case rates have sykrocketed, triggering the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to introduce a third national lockdown, including the closure of schools, to try and get a grip on Covid-19, as the UK is in a race to get the vaccine out as fast as possible to protect the most vulnerable people in society from this killer virus.

But how has the situation changed in Bradford? Well, the district is one of the handful of places in the North to have avoided a major impact from the new strain.

In the latest figures on total positive cases of Covid-19, in the seven days to January 2 there were 1,359 cases of the virus in the Bradford district. This is a rise of almost 500 cases compared with the figure two weeks prior on December 19, when it was 885.

The current rate of infection in Bradford is currently 251.8 infections per 100,000 people, which means one in 400 people in Bradford have Covid-19. On December 19, the rate was 164.0 infections per 100,000 people.

On January 3, nine people were admitted into Airedale NHS Foundation Trust with Covid-19, up from five on December 19. At Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 18 people were admitted on January 3, up from eight two week prior.

On January 2, there were 24 patients in hospital with Covid at Airedale, a drop from 35 on December 19. In Bradford the figures were 80 on January 2, a drop from 100 two weeks before.

The number of patients on mechanical ventilators also fell at Airedale in the same period from four to one, but stayhed the same in Bradford at seven.

On December 31 - the most recently available date - Bradford district saw four Covid-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, with the seven-day average standing at 3.3. This was up from one on December 19, when the seven-day average was 2.4.

The cumulative number of deaths in Bradford withing 28 days of a positive Covid test to January 2 stands at 787, an increase of 40 in two weeks from December 19 when the figure was 747.

Nationally, the figure is 76,631, up from 68,637 in the space of a fortnight, and this tragic figure continues to rise.