More than 600 NHS staff in east London are off work due to Covid, figures reveal.

The latest government data shows Barts Health NHS Trust had 334 staff absent either with Covid or isolating because of it as of January 2.

The trust - which runs five hospitals including The Royal London, Mile End, Newham and Whipps Cross - had a total of 822 employees off sick in total.

This represents about five per cent of its total workforce of 16,855.

READ MORE: Patients with Covid still rising across east London hospitals

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) had 263 Covid absences on January 2, which accounts for more than half of the 429 staff off sick.

Data published by the trust itself shows total illness absences had risen to 547 – with 306 related to Covid – on January 5.

This included 81 staff who were isolating and 225 who had tested positive for Covid.

The total absences represent around seven per cent of the workforce of the trust, which runs Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes.