INACCURATE data showing numbers of Covid patients at St Mary's Hospital is to be raised at government level by Island MP Bob Seely.

Data on the government website, where journalists are directed to get accurate numbers from, has been wrong all week.

Last Friday, it showed a sevenfold jump from five to 36 Covid patients at St Mary's as of Tuesday, August 10. However the IW NHS Trust said this was wrong, and there were only the five Covid patients.

However, the figure has remained online, on the publicly available website, ever since.

Mr Seely told the County Press: "I will be contacting government as it is important that we get accurate data.

"This has clearly been a slip-up in an otherwise strong system of communication but it is important to be as transparent and open as possible.

"The County Press and other media rely on this data and it needs to be accurate so they can do their job properly and inform people of the facts."

The IW NHS Trust said there were five Covid positive patients in hospital on August 9 and 10, which fell to just one last Friday.

However, there are now nine, as of today (Thursday).