A FURTHER 39 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

And 18 more people in the UK have died, within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

Figures published on Saturday afternoon revealed that County Durham had the biggest 24-hour increase in people having lab-confirmed positive test results for Covid-19 with 3,440 recorded, 11 more than the previous day.

This comes in the week that a mobile testing station was set up in Stanley after 15 cases were linked to a club in the town.

On Friday, Durham County Council confirmed one man had been admitted to hospital after extensive inquiries linked the cases to the Stanley Empire Club.

Council staff, along with Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace, have worked together since the first suspected cases came to light, to contact as many people as possible who visited the club on August 9, 10 and 11 to advise them to self-isolate.

There were 1,288 positive tests in the UK taking the total number of positive tests in the UK to 324,601- 280,519 in England, 6,647 in Northern Ireland, 19,728 in Scotland and 17,707 in Wales. In the same 24 hour period, 97 people were admitted to hospital taking the number of patients to 834.

The daily figures for coronavirus infections in the North East and North Yorkshire by local authority, as of 4pm on Saturday, August 22, were:

Durham 3,440 was 3,429

Darlington 619 no change

Gateshead 1,330 was 1,329

Hartlepool 634 was 632

Harrogate 760 no change

Middlesbrough 1,050 was 1,048

Newcastle 1,650 was 1,642

North Tyneside 959 no change

North Yorkshire 2,681 was 2,677

Northumberland 1,636 was 1631

Redcar and Cleveland 723 was 721

Stockton 1,005 no change

Sunderland 1,841 was 1,837

York 947 no change