Olympia (US), Aug 26 (AP) Washington state health officials say the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients is doubling every 18 to 19 days in the state.

Dr Umair Shah is the state secretary of health and said Wednesday that the surge driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus has “stressed, stretched and strained” hospital resources across the state,.

Also Read | Fastukmeds Allows Credit Cards To Pay for Medicines Purchased Online in the UK.

One hospital official said hospitals throughout the state are facing their highest levels of occupancy ever, and the impact has been especially hard on regional and rural hospitals where there are no critical care beds left.

According to the state Department of Health, 1,346 people were hospitalised with COVID-19 on Tuesday. There have been more than 488,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in Washington state during the pandemic, and 6,448 deaths related to COVID-19. (AP)

Also Read | US Airlifts 19,000 People From Afghanistan in Past 24 Hours, Total Number of Evacuees Reach 82,300.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)