COVID-19 was the reason behind almost half of NHS staff absences at the trust which runs Colchester Hospital on Boxing Day, figures show.

NHS England’s medical director Professor Stephen Powis says health services are on “a war footing”, with Covid-related staff absences more than doubling in a fortnight.

NHS England data shows 743 staff at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust were off sick on December 26 – the latest date for which data is available.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Colchester, Clacton and Harwich, saw 356 members of staff (48 per cent of those absent) off because they had Covid-19 or were self-isolating due to the virus.

This was a 34 per cent increase on a week before when 266 Covid-related absences were recorded.

Read more: Prisoner who absconded while on temporary release is found in Essex

Prof 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 feared 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 keeping as many NHS staff as possible at work in the next few weeks would be essential.

People who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full ten days.

But calls are growing on the Government to cut this further, after the US Government slashed the self-isolation period to five days for asymptomatic cases.

The Government says while early evidence suggests the new coronavirus variant Omicron is less likely to cause serious illness than earlier waves, it stands ready to impose new measures in England if necessary.

England is the only country in the UK to have ruled out additional restrictions before the new year.

The hospital trust was approached for comment, but had not responded by the time of going to press.