Patients with coronavirus admitted to intensive care have about a fifty per cent chance of survival, new national research suggests.

The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre is an independent body which monitors the quality of care in hospitals across the country.

It has investigated the outcomes of 775 confirmed cases of coronavirus that have required admission to a critical care unit.

Their data was last updated on Thursday.

With the outbreak of the virus still in its early stages, the vast majority of the patients included in this group are still in critical care – 609 of the 775 being looked at.

Of the 775 patients, 79 have died.

There has been an almost 50 per cent mortality rate among patients admitted to intensive care with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

Fifty-two per cent of patients were alive after the end of their time in a critical care unit, with 48 per cent having died while in intensive care.

This is a much higher mortality rate than those admitted to intensive care for a case of viral pneumonia.

Just under 78 per cent survived their time in intensive care, while 22 per cent died.

The average age of the patients in intensive care is 61.

The vast majority of patients admitted to intensive care are men. Just 29.5 per cent of the patients admitted to intensive care with confirmed cases of coronavirus were women.

Most patients admitted to intensive care for coronavirus were placed on mechanical ventilators. More than 78 per cent were put on ventilators in the first 24 hours of being admitted to intensive care, compared to just 43 per cent of viral pneumonia cases seen in intensive care in 2017 to

Patients who were admitted to intensive care were more likely to be able to live without assistance in their daily activities than patients admitted to intensive care for viral pneumonia.

Ninety per cent of the coronavirus cases admitted to intensive care were not dependent on assistance for carrying out daily activities, compared to 73 per cent of viral pneumonia patients.