HERE are the key coronavirus updates from the last 24-hours. 

  • A further 16 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,735, NHS England said on Saturday. Patients were aged between 69 and 97 and all had known underlying health conditions. The dates of the deaths were between August 19 and September 18, with the majority on or after September 17. Five other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
  • The Government said that as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 4,422 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. Overall, 390,358 cases have been confirmed.It also said a further 27 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday. This brings the UK total to 41,759. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,500 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
  • A FURTHER 426 people have tested positive for Covid in the North-East and North Yorkshire. Here is a breakdown of the latest confirmed cases in the North-East and North Yorkshire:

County Durham: 4,068 was 4,015

Darlington: 689 was 682

Gateshead:  1,773 was 1,733

Hartlepool: 778 was 770

Middlesbrough: 1,267 was 1,250

Newcastle: 2,238 was 2,181

North Tyneside: 1,245 was 1,208

North Yorkshire: 3,241 was 3,199

Northumberland: 1,955 was 1,914

Redcar and Cleveland: 847 was 840

South Tyneside: 1,420 was 1,388

Stockton: 1,189 was 1,171  

Sunderland: 2,460 was 2,407 

York: 1,116 was 1,102

  • Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged Boris Johnson to call a meeting of the Government’s civil contingencies committee to consider the rise in coronavirus cases.“We are deeply concerned with the sharp rise in infection rates. What we have seen over the last six months is the Government still can’t get the basics right, she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. The Prime Minister has to convene a Cobra meeting this weekend. He has to look at the science and the evidence and he has to make sure the measures are in place and a clear communications strategy on that so people can do the right thing. It has been absolutely shocking to see how monumentally they have failed at the testing, tracing, tracking system that they put in place.”
  • More than 200 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the last 24 hours in Northern Ireland. It is one of the biggest daily increases in the region since the start of the pandemic.
  • The latest Covid-19 figures for Scotland show three more confirmed coronavirus patients have died, bringing the total number of deaths under that measure to 2,505. A total of 24,126 people have tested positive for coronavirus – an increase of 350 from the day before. This comes just one day after Nicola Sturgeon warned “hard but necessary” decisions may be needed in the coming days to prevent another national lockdown. The First Minister said coronavirus “could get out of our grip again” as Scotland faces the risk of “exponential growth” of Covid-19.