Staffing levels within the NHS are raising concerns as the workforce is hit by a challenging combination of Covid cases and people isolating, alongside other illnesses.
Meanwhile, the number of Covid cases needing hospital treatment has risen in Greater Manchester, and could be expected to do so further as experts are currently trying to predict the link between the Omicron variant and hospitalisation.
The region's NHS has made some progress in creating space within its hospitals to treat new patients, as bed capacity in recent weeks has been teetering at '93 per cent', with many medically fit people unable to be discharged as they queue for social care.