For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there are no Covid patients being treated in an intensive care ward, according to figures from national patient monitoring body LCPS.

At the peak of the pandemic in April 2020, some 1,400 people were being looked after in an IC ward and regular hospital appointments were cancelled as healthcare staff struggled to cope.

The LCPS stresses that the situation is liable to change at any moment. The agency reports the number of hospital patients every day at around 2 pm.

Some 73 people were being treated for coronavirus on an ordinary ward on Friday,  double the figure at the start of August. The number of ordinary ward patients slipped under 100 at the end of May.

This may be down to the arrival of a new variant of the virus, the LCPS said. The percentage of coronavirus particles in waste water has been rising steadily since early July.