A&E attendances in England at record low in face of Covid-19

A&E attendances and emergency admissions to hospitals in England have fallen to their lowest figure on record in the face of coronavirus, new figures show.

Data published by NHS England shows 0.9 million attendances were recorded in April 2020, down 57% from 2.1 million in April 2019.

The number is the lowest for any calendar month since current records began in August 2010.

NHS England, which published the figures, said the fall was “likely to be a result of the Covid-19 response” – an indication that people have been staying away from A&E departments because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Emergency admissions to A&E departments at hospitals in England also showed a sharp fall last month, down 39% from 535,226 in April 2019 to 326,581 in April 2020.

This is the lowest number reported for any calendar month since current records began.

NHS England again said this was likely to be a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak.

Data also shows that the number of patients waiting to start treatment at the end of March was 4.2 million, down on the 4.4 million in the previous month.

The UK lockdown was announced on March 23.