THE Dudley Group Trust was caring for 50 coronavirus patients in hospital as of Tuesday, figures show.

NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on November 23 was down from 58 on the same day the previous week.

The number of beds at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 decreased by six per cent in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 53.

Across England there were 6,257 people in hospital with Covid as of November 23, with 780 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has decreased by nine per cent in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has decreased by three per cent.

The figures also show that 46 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust in the week to November 21.

This was down from 48 in the previous seven days.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 225 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and four more deaths were recorded.

A total of 53,976 people throughout the entire pandemic had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Friday November 26, up from 53,751 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 16,744 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 15,099.

The dashboard shows 865 people had died in the area by Friday November 26 – up from 861 on Thursday.

It means there have been nine deaths in the past week – an increase on seven the previous week.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Dudley.