Mansfield and Ashfield residents admitted to King's Mill Hospital with Covid increases by more than 100 per cent in four weeks

Records show that in the week ending December 1, 34 people were admitted hospitals run by Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, compared with 70 in the week ending December 26 – an increase of 105.9 per cent.

A Total of three patients were on ventilators by December 26, compared with zero on December 1, the figures show.

The news comes after the trust – which also runs Mansfield Community Hospital and Newark Hospital – suspended routine visiting to protect the vulnerable.

A statement from the trust said: “Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases within our community we are making the difficult decision to suspend adult in-patient visiting to help protect our vulnerable patients.

"We will continue to have visiting for patients who are end of life, under 18, require a designated carer or have significant needs such as mental health and dementia. Our maternity visiting is also not changing.

“We have not taken this decision lightly and we have been trying to maintain some visiting because we realise how important this is to patients and relatives, however the increase in cases does now pose a greater risk of our patients acquiring the virus and we need to act to protect them."

Figures have also revealed that Coronavirus was the reason behind more than a third of NHS staff absences at Sherwood Forest Hospitals on Boxing Day.

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