Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many COVID-19 patients are currently in hospital; whether those patients are being given antiviral treatments to aid their recovery; and if so, what is the average length of time it takes patients receiving such treatments to be cured.

As of 28 March 2022, the number of patients currently in hospital with COVID-19 is 17,685. A range of treatments are available to these patients, including antivirals. Eligible patients admitted to hospital for reasons not related to COVID-19 and subsequently test positive are able to access nirmatrelvir + ritonavir (Paxlovid), an oral antiviral treatment or remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral. For patients whose immune system means they are at higher risk of COVID-19, the antiviral treatments molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir + ritonavir and remdesivir are available in the community to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death.

Approximately 120,000 treatments have been provided in England, of which 53,000 were antivirals administered to hospitalised patients. The data requested on the average time for patients receiving antivirals to be cured is not held centrally.