GOVERNMENT data which shows a huge increase in Covid patients at St Mary's is inaccurate, St Mary's Hospital has said.

The current data shows a huge and sudden rise in Covid patients being treated at St Mary's Hospital in Newport, reporting a sevenfold jump from five patients with Covid on August 9 to 36 on August 10.

However, the hospital said it currently has only one Covid patient.

The data is publicly available at coronavirus.data.gov.uk and is what the media is asked to rely on for reporting statistics.

Isle of Wight County Press:

A spokesperson for Isle of Wight NHS Trust this morning clarified: “We want to reassure Islanders, our patients and our staff that we have not seen a significant increase in the number of people in St Mary’s Hospital with Covid-19 in recent days.

“On the 9th and 10th of August there were five people in hospital who had been diagnosed with Covid-19.”

It is unclear why NHS England's data is showing something so different.

The all-important rolling rate, showing cases per 100,000 people, is currently 136.3 on the Island, compared to 285.1 across the UK.

However this data is five days behind and therefore doesn't take into account the latest high number of cases, with 91 reported yesterday (Thursday).

There have been two Covid-related deaths within the last few weeks at the hospital.