Shropshire Star

Three more coronavirus deaths in Shropshire as UK total passes 1,000

Three more coronavirus patients have died in Shropshire as the UK death toll increased by more than 200 in a day for the first time.

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Three deaths

Figures released by NHS England on Saturday revealed that two patients died on Friday and one patient died on Thursday while being treated by the Shropshire and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

It is not known whether the patients died at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford or at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It means eight people have now died in Shropshire after testing positive for Covid-19, while the UK death toll has now reached 1,019.

Meanwhile five more people have tested positive for coronavirus in the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin council areas, bringing the total confirmed cases in the area to 79. Nineteen people have tested positive in Powys.

The true number of cases is likely to be far higher due to the limited amount of testing so far carried out by the NHS.

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A Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust spokesman said: "Sadly we can confirm that six patients being cared for at our hospitals, and had tested positive for Covid-19, have died. Three of those have been announced today.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of those patient at this very difficult and distressing time."

A further 246 people were confirmed to have died in England on Saturday, bringing the total to 935. All of the latest English patients included in the figures were aged between 33 and 100 years old and all but 13 patients had underlying health conditions.

The youngest patient to die without an underlying condition was aged 63.

London remains the major hotspot for deaths, although numbers are rising in Birmingham and Coventry and also in Portsmouth.

In the West Midlands five patients died in Sandwell and Birmingham, two in Wolverhampton, one in Dudley, 12 in Birmingham and one in Staffordshire.

The English death toll is updated daily and broken down by the health trust where the patients were being treated, while the case figures are released according to the local authority area - ie Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.

So far 34 people have died after testing positive in Wales, but no local or regional breakdown is provided by NHS Wales.

All of the latest coronavirus deaths in England were confirmed between 5pm on Thursday and 5pm on Friday, but that does not mean the patients all died in that period.

Some deaths take several days to be confirmed due to testing and discussions with families, with the earliest death included in Saturday's figures taking place in Sandwell and Birmingham on March 13.

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