double the normal number of absences we would expect to see. secondly, the sheer numbers coming into hospital. you do expect at this time of year about 1000 admissions a day for all type of respiratory infections, but we are seeing double that for covid alone. some of those normal winter pressures are much lower, flu rates are much lower, we have fewer than 50 patients in hospital with the flu at the moment in england. what matters now is when these covid infection do peak, it will make a difference to just how bad the winter could be. official figures from the national office of statistics about the prevalence of the virus. the infection rates have been climbing, driven by the 0micron variant.
for a care package to go home. it s terribly frustrating. i mean, i could be at home now. i admit i can t see to do what i used to do, but i would be in my own environment. life would be much more pleasant. hospitals are reaching capacity whilst seeing a sharp rise in staff shortages. 16 trusts are still in critical incident mode. the latest nhs data shows more than 35,000 staff at acute trusts were off each day on average, due to covid, up to the 2nd of january. that is 4% of the workforce and up 41% on the previous week. but there are regional differences. the north east and yorkshire was hardest hit. there were more than 7,000 covid absences, which is 5% of staff and up by 79% on the previous week. in london, there were over 5,000 covid absences, or 3% of staff. that is down by 4% on the week before.
this is bbc news, i m reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at two. staff absences caused by coronavirus at nhs hospitals across england have risen by 40% in a week. nursing unions say covid pressures are making hospital care unsafe. nurses can t stop helping their patients, so what s happening instead is that they find themselves being spread thinner and thinner. but they can t keep doing that indefinitely. novak djokovic remains in this australian hotel, awaiting a court decision on his entry to the country. a government minister has said the grand slam champion is free to leave the country any time. addressing the nation, kazakhstan s president says he s given the order to fire without warning, and thanks president putin for sending russian troops. protesters have now left the streets.
hospitals are reaching capacity whilst seeing a sharp rise in staff shortages. 16 trusts are still in critical incident mode. the latest nhs data shows more than 35,000 staff at acute trusts were off each day on average, due to covid, up to the 2nd of january. that is 4% of the workforce and up 41% on the previous week. but there are regional differences. the north east and yorkshire was hardest hit. there were more than 7,000 covid absences, which is 5% of staff and up by 79% on the previous week. in london, there were over 5,000 covid absences, or 3% of staff. that is down by 4% on the week before. these figures are really stark. outside of health care, staffing shortages are closing shops and cancelling trains. but nurses can t stop helping their patients, so what s happening instead is that they re finding themselves being spread thinner and thinner, but they can t keep doing that indefinitely.
through the figures. in previous winters we have reported delays to operations, operations being cancelled, critical incidents being declared, even temporary treatment centres being set up outside a&e units. but this is difficult, it is worse, we can see that in a chart on ambulance performance. this shows that the delays ambulances face when they drop off their patients at a&e. the dark orange is this winter, the light orange is two years before, the last winter before the pandemic hit. as you can see, in the most recent week 23% of patients who were brought to a&e in an ambulance faced a wait of over 30 minutes outside a&e, two years ago, the same week, it was 18%. that is because covid brings with it some very unique challenges. as reported, staff absences are rising, we are seeing