End the Lockdown: England's coronavirus wards stand empty as number of people dying of Covid plummets by 99%

Many of England's coronavirus wards are standing empty as new figures have today revealed that the number of people in hospital and dying from Covid-19 has plummeted by 99 per cent.

Coronavirus death figures in hospitals have plummeted from 866 people a day at the height on April 10 to five last Thursday. 

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has also plummeted by 96 per cent since the peak.

Under pressure hospital staff were treating more than 17,000 patients a day for coronavirus in England in mid-April.

But as of August 6, official NHS England data shows staff were treating 700 Covid-19 patients. 

It comes as it has been revealed some hospitals did not have a single coronavirus patient on their wards last week, with one top doctor suggesting that Britain is 'almost reaching herd immunity'.

One doctor also described the downturn as 'huge' and said he did not expect a future increase in hospital admissions.

Doctor Ron Daniels, an intensive care consultant in Birmingham, told the Times: 'I think that's highly unlikely, because the pubs have been open for over a month, people have been interacting heavily during that time and the natural history of the disease is that and you are going to end up in hospital you are pretty much in hospital within 15 days of contracting it.

He also suggested the downturn could be due to the most vulnerable in the UK having contracted the virus in 'March and April' and that the virus may have become 'less virulent'.