CORONAVIRUS cases in the North-East and North Yorkshire continued to rise bringing the region’s total since the weekend to 21,079 from 20,853 – a rise of 226.

A further four people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,611, NHS England said on Monday.

The patients were aged between 76 and 95 and all had known underlying health conditions. The dates of the deaths were all on September 5. No deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

The weekly rate of new cases of Covid-19 in the UK has risen above 20 per 100,000 people. In the seven days to September 7 the rate stood at 21.3 cases per 100,000.

This is up from 13.9 per 100,000 for the seven days to August 31.

Coronavirus cases in the North-East and North Yorkshire as of Monday, September 7, were:

County Durham: 3,656, was 3,623; Darlington: 640 was 638; Gateshead: 1,464 was 1,455; Hartlepool: 692 was 690; Middlesbrough: 1,162 was 1,155; Newcastle: 1,828 was 1,793; North Tyneside: 1,041 was 1,024; North Yorkshire: 2,857 was 2,825; Northumberland: 1,739 was 1,733; Redcar and Cleveland: 785 was 782; South Tyneside: 1,121 was 1,100; Stockton: 1.078 was 1,073; Sunderland: 2,021 was 1,971 and York: 995 was 991.