Four out of 10 patients hospitalised with the Indian Covid variant in England may have been admitted for something else, MailOnline analysis of official data suggests.

Public Health England‘s fortnightly report on the ‚Delta‘ strain showed a total of 1,904 people had spent at least one night in hospital with the mutant virus by June 21.

But the agency admits 739 (39 per cent) of these patients may have gone to hospital for a different condition or injury and tested positive through routine NHS testing.