THE number of patients with Covid-19 in Barnsley Hospital has dropped since the start of the month.

At the beginning of March there were 73 people in the hospital with the virus – there are now 57.

There are no patients on mechanical ventilation beds.

However, Barnsley’s Covid infection rate is continuing to rocket with more than a 40 per cent increase in the last seven-day period.

The town’s infection rate is 570.8 per 100,000 residents – at the start of March it was less than 200.

More than 1,800 people have tested positive for Covid in the last week, bringing the overall total to 84,345.