During the first pandemic wave, more than one in 10 Covid patients contracted the infection in hospital.
This was revealed by the largest study ever conducted on the subject, directed by Jonathan Read of Lancaster University in collaboration with the Universities of Liverpool, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Imperial College London, and published in The Lancet.
The experts examined the clinical data of Covid patients ill up to 1 August 2020, reported in all British hospitals involved in the research project of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC), entitled Clinical Characterization Protocol UK (CCP) -UK).
Researchers found that at least 11.1% of COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals became infected while in hospital.
The proportion of COVID-19 patients who contracted the infection in hospital further increased to between 16% and 20% in mid-May 2020, long after the peak in admissions of the first wave.
"We estimate that something like 5,699 and 11,862 patients hospitalized during the first wave have contracted the infection during their stay - the researchers explain. And this is probably an underestimate - they continue - since we have not included patients who despite contracting the virus in hospital, received the diagnosis of Covid after discharge ".
(HANDLE).