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More than one in ten COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus while in hospital during the first wave of the pandemic, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet.
Researchers at Lancaster University and colleagues from other UK universities have looked at the records of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, who fell ill before August 1, 2020.
They found that at least 11.1% of COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals were infected after admission.
The study shows that the proportion of infected COVID-19 patients in hospital also rose to between 16% and 20% in mid-May 2020, well after the first wave of admissions peaked.
The research team estimates that between 5,699 and 11,862 patients admitted in the first wave were infected while in hospital.
“This is, unfortunately, probably an underestimate, as we did not include patients who may have been infected but who were discharged before they could be diagnosed,” said Jonathan Read, senior author of the Lancaster University study.
“Controlling viruses like SARS-CoV-2 has been difficult in the past, so the situation could have been much worse. However, infection control should remain a priority in hospitals and health care facilities,” said Read.
The researchers noted that there are likely a number of reasons why many patients have been infected in these care settings.
These reasons include the large number of patients admitted to hospitals with limited facilities for case isolation and limited access to rapid and reliable diagnostic tests in the early stages of the outbreak.
There have been challenges regarding access to and best use of PPE, our understanding of when patients are most contagious in their disease, misclassification of cases due to the presentation of atypical symptoms, and under-appreciation the role of airborne transmission, ”said Chris Vert of the University of Birmingham.
According to the researchers, there were marked differences in the number of infected patients in hospital depending on the type of care provided.
Hospitals providing acute and general care had lower proportions of nosocomial infections (9.7%) than residential community care hospitals (61.9%) and mental health hospitals (67.5%). which reflects outbreaks seen in nursing homes.
The reasons for the variation between facilities providing the same type of care require urgent investigation to identify and promote best infection control practices, ”said Professor Calum Semple of the University of Liverpool.
“Research has now been commissioned to find out what has been done well and what lessons need to be learned to improve patient safety,” Semple said.
The researchers noted that the underlying reasons for these high rates of transmission in hospitals during the height of the first wave need to be investigated, so that we can improve safety and outcomes for our patients.
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