Dozens more people have been admitted to hospitals in south and mid Essex with coronavirus in the past week, new figures show.

NHS data shows there were 83 patients across Basildon, Broomfield and Southend hospitals as of Tuesday being treated for the virus.

That was up 32 from the same time the week before.

It is the joint highest number of Covid patients under the care of the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust since mid-March, with the same figure of 83 also recorded on July 29.

The number of Covid patients on ventilators at the three hospitals has also risen in the past week, up to 13 from six.

The number of admissions linked to coronavirus in the last seven days has ranged from eight to 14.

It comes as Public Health England revealed some 7,285 people had been admitted to hospital in England up to August 15 who were either confirmed or likely to have the Delta variant.

Some 4,112 of the 7,285 people were under the age of 50 while 3,173 were 50 or over.

Of the 3,173 aged 50 or over, 989 (31%) were unvaccinated, 318 (10%) had received one dose of vaccine and 1,838 (58%) had received both doses.

Of the 4,112 under 50, 3,044 (74%) were unvaccinated, 631 (15%) had received one dose of vaccine and 366 (9%) had received both doses.

A small number of virus samples from people admitted to hospital could not be matched with vaccination records.