A NATIONAL circuit breaker lockdown is not needed to protect the health service, NHS documents prove.
The data – seen by The Sun – shows just 542 hospital beds are taken up by Covid patients across the whole of the south.
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And there are fewer than 300 patients being treated by the NHS for the bug in the East of England.
Meanwhile, London has 610 ward beds occupied by victims of the pandemic on October 20.
It compares with almost 5,000 in early April during the first wave.
Only areas already affected by tier 2 and tier 3 restrictions have more than 1,000 beds taken up by Covid patients – suggesting a targeted approach is appropriate.
In the Midlands there are 1,090 coronavirus victims on wards, in the North East and Yorkshire 1,436 and in the North West 2,099.
Across England, a total of 6,072 NHS beds are now taken up by Covid patients – roughly a third compared to the April peak.
Professor Carl Heneghan, from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, said the data does not support calls for national circuit breakers.
He said: “The whole purpose of circuit breakers is to prevent the health service from being overwhelmed.
“But for much of the country, this is far from the case.
“The numbers simply do not justify another national lockdown.
“Instead of imposing strict measures across the whole nation, the Government should be looking at areas like the South West which have low levels of infections and figuring out what does work.
“Would local test and trace be better than the national system, which is struggling to cope?”
There are currently 560 coronavirus patients on mechanical ventilation across England.
It is a fifth of the number in mid-April when 2,881 sick Brits were receiving intensive support to breath.
Leading scientists have lobbied Boris Johnson to impose mini-lockdowns to stem Covid spread. But the Prime Minister has instead opted to target areas with high infection.
One of nation’s top doctors backed the PM, saying circuit breakers are inappropriate for many areas.
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said he’s opposed to “hard measures” that threaten to trash jobs in regions where Covid numbers are low.
Daily Covid deaths were 189 yesterday – taking the UK total to 44,347.
Official figures also show 21,242 people tested positive for the virus.
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