Almost 2,300 cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Brighton and Hove in a single week as the rate of cases almost doubled again.
And the covid-19 death toll rose 10 per cent in a fortnight at the main hospital trust serving Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area.
Elsewhere the increase was even higher as the soaring number of cases was blamed on the faster-spreading mutant or variant strain of the virus.
A total of 258 patients in Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) beds have died since the start of the pandemic within 28 days of a positive covid test.
Sixteen died in the week to Thursday 31 December, including four on Christmas Day, while a further 15 have died in the seven days to Thursday 7 January.
The neighbouring East Sussex Healthcare, which runs hospitals in Eastbourne and Hastings, where the number of cases has recently been much higher, reported a 60 per cent rise in the trust’s overall death toll in just two weeks.
NHS figures recorded 69 deaths in the week to Thursday 31 December and 51 deaths in the week to Thursday 7 January, taking the total to 302 since the pandemic began.
Another neighbouring trust, Western Sussex Hospitals, which runs hospitals in Worthing and Chichester, reported nine deaths in the week to New Year’s Eve and 28 in the week to Thursday 7 January, making 196 in all.
In Brighton and Hove in the week to Monday (4 January), 2,296 cases were recorded by Public Health England.
The figure was up from 1,194 in the previous seven days, to Monday 28 December.
The rate was 789.3 cases per 100,000 – up from 410.5 the week before.
The local hospital trust, BSUH, started giving the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday.
It was one of only six centres in the country to give the Oxford vaccine and was among the first to administer the Pfizer BioNTech jab – at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton – last month.
The first wave of people receiving the Oxford vaccine were given the jab at the Princess Royal Hospital, in Haywards Heath.
A number of patients yesterday reported having outpatient appointments cancelled and the trust has been asked to clarify the position as covid admissions rise.
