Coronavirus was the reason behind two in five NHS staff absences at Oxford University Hospitals Trust on Boxing Day, figures show. However, the Trust has said these figures are better than last year's.

NHS England's medical director, Stephen Powis, said health services are on "a war footing", with Covid-related staff absences more than doubling in a fortnight.

NHS England data shows 875 staff at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were off sick on December 26 – the latest date for which data is available.

Out of these figures, 350 were off because they had Covid-19, or were self-isolating due to the virus.

This was a 17 per cent increase on a week before, when 300 Covid-related absences were recorded.

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However, the Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH) said: "We do have staff off work because they are either Covid positive or self-isolating – but the numbers are below the position at this time last year."

OUH added: "We have established plans in place to support the delivery of our services, and are following measures to ensure patients can continue to access the hospital care they need.

"We continue to carefully monitor our staffing situation and also the impact of rising numbers of Covid positive inpatients on our hospitals, with daily meetings involving clinicians and an OUH Covid-19 Response Plan shared with all staff.

"We would encourage everyone to help protect their local NHS and our frontline staff, who have been working throughout the festive period to care for patients, by using the right service and in particular by only using our Emergency Departments JR when necessary. We would also of course urge everyone to get their booster jab and, if they have not yet had their 1st and 2nd vaccinations, to get those."

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Across England, the number of NHS staff off work due to Covid increased from 18,800 on December 19, to 24,600 on Boxing Day – a 31 per cent rise.

Professor Powis said new nurses and reservists were being recruited to deal with pressures, as Nightingale hubs are being set-up across the country to tackle a surge in coronavirus patients.

He added: "We don’t yet know the full scale of rising omicron cases and how this will affect people needing NHS treatment, but having hit a ten-month high for the number of patients in hospital with Covid while wrestling with sharply increasing staff absences, we are doing everything possible to free up beds and get people home to their loved ones."

He added that keeping as many NHS staff as possible at work in the next few weeks would be essential.

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