Just one hospital in Kent is now treating patients with coronavirus as the county's biggest trust becomes 'Covid-free' for the first time since the pandemic struck.

New figures reveal East Kent Hospitals now has no inpatients with the virus, just four months after caring for a peak of 460.

It leaves the Medway Maritime as the only hospital in the county with any Covid patients, but its total now stands at just four - a fraction of the 261 it had in January.

The positive news comes as infection rates continue to fall across Kent despite fears about the spread of the Indian variant.

A spokesman for East Kent Hospitals said: “Our staff have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic, caring for more than 5,400 people with Covid-19 with dedication and compassion.

“Today is an important milestone but we would urge everyone to keep following the guidance around hand hygiene, mask wearing and social distancing, and to have their vaccination when it is their turn.”

Becoming Covid-free is all the more significant for the East Kent trust as for a period last summer it recorded the highest death toll in the UK.

It came amid concerns about in-hospital transmission, which were heightened by a CQC inspection which found poor infection control was rife at the William Harvey in Ashford.

The health watchdog has since ruled the trust has made significant improvements.

Elsewhere in the county, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust has not had a single Covid patient this month, with the last recorded on April 30.

Hospitals in Dartford and Gravesham have been Covid-free since May 10.

The figures are in stark contrast to the peak of the pandemic, when on January 4 there were 1,361 patients in Kent's hospitals.

The county has been in some form of lockdown ever since, sending infection rates, patient numbers and deaths tumbling.

Despite restrictions being steadily lifted since March, the numbers have continued to fall.

More than one million people in Kent have now also had their first vaccine dose, with almost 600,000 fully vaccinated.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent