The number of Covid patients at King George and Queen’s hospitals has more than doubled in a fortnight.

As of Wednesday (October 27), there were 72 people with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 being treated at the facilities in Romford and Goodmayes.

That compares with the 34 patients recorded on Tuesday, October 12, and the 61 recorded the previous Wednesday, October 20.

Ten of the 72 patients were being treated in critical care, according to the statistics released by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which runs the two hospitals.

The number of critical care beds being used declined week-on-week, from 89.47 to 78.95 per cent.

Five new patients were diagnosed with the virus in the previous 24 hours as of October 27.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,711 BHRUT patients have died having had a laboratory confirmed positive Covid-19 test result within 28 days of death.

5,750 patients with Covid-19 have recovered and been discharged.