More than half of people labelled as a Covid hospital patient in England only tested positive after being admitted for a different reason, leaked figures show.
The NHS England data suggests the pressure of the third wave on hospitals may be even less severe than the daily numbers let on.
There were 827 patients admitted for Covid in England last Thursday, according to the Government's coronavirus dashboard.
But 56 per cent of these were only diagnosed with the virus after being in hospital for a different illness, according to data seen by The Telegraph.
Experts slammed the finding as 'misleading' and said officials must do more to differentiate between actual Covid admissions and 'incidental' cases.
It comes after MailOnline's analysis earlier this month found 40 per cent of Covid 'admissions' were in hospital for other reasons.
Tory MPs are now demanding new figures be published every day to paint a clearer picture of pressures on the NHS.
But health service bosses claimed today that trusts are just as busy as they were in the second wave of the pandemic, when there were more than 4,000 Covid admissions per day.
They said medics were juggling frantic efforts to chop down the 5.3million backlog of patients before winter as well as record numbers in A&E admissions.
It comes as Covid infections fell for the sixth day in a row in the UK for the first time since November. Latest hospital admission data shows there were 922 on July 22, up a quarter on the previous week.
The red bars show the number of patients being admitted to hospitals in England every day up July 20, while the blue bars show hospital admissions during the second wave, which peaked in January when 4,134 went to hospital with Covid in a single day
Figures for hospitalisations in England show that just 44 per cent of the 827 people categorised as being hospitalised with Covid last Thursday tested positive in the two weeks before going to hospital. An additional 43 per cent tested positive for the virus within two days of being admitted, while the remaining 13 per cent were found to have the virus after two days in hospital
Figures for hospitalisations in England show that just 44 per cent of the 827 people categorised as being hospitalised with Covid last Thursday tested positive in the two weeks before going to hospital.
An additional 43 per cent tested positive for the virus shortly after admission, while the remaining 13 per cent were found to have the virus after two days in hospital.
Covid testing is mandatory in all hospitals and patients are regularly checked for the virus, no matter what they are in hospital for.
It means patients giving birth or getting routine operations may be being added to the daily numbers.
