A FURTHER 1,503 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the North-East and North Yorkshire in the last 24 hours.

A further 16 deaths were reported at hospitals in the North-East.

Separate figures show there were 4,146 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England as of Wednesday, up from 2,944 a week ago, while 468 Covid-19 hospital patients were in ventilation beds, up from 376 a week ago.

A total of 647 patients with confirmed Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals in England on Monday, compared with 472 a week earlier.

The Government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 19,724 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 654,644.

The Government also said a further 137 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday. This brings the UK total to 43,155.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 58,500 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

A further 68 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 30,662, NHS England said on Wednesday.

Patients were aged between 48 and 98 years old.

All but four patients, aged between 65 and 93, had known underlying health conditions.

The deaths were between October 2 and October 13.

Eight other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Figures for the North-East and North Yorkshire for the last 24 hours:

County Durham: 7,894 was 7,612 was 7,328, an increase of 282

Darlington: 1,251 was 1,219, an increase of 32

Gateshead: 3,321 was 3,219, an increase of 102

Hartlepool: 1,507 was 1,442, an increase of 65

Middlesbrough: 2,298 was 2,246, an increase of 52

Newcastle: 6,488 was 6,307, an increase of 181

North Tyneside: 2,756 was 2,683, an increase of 73

North Yorkshire: 5,359 was 5,222, an increase of 137

Northumberland: 3,874 was 3,786, an increase of 88

Redcar and Cleveland: 1,518was 1,471, an increase of 47

South Tyneside: 2,759 was 2,689, an increase of 70

Stockton: 2,611 was 2,528, an increase of 83

Sunderland: 5,037 was 4,884, an increase of 153

York: 2,328 was 2,190, an increase of 138

Total increase in North-East and North Yorkshire of 1,503