A FURTHER 2,237 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the North-East and North Yorkshire in the last 24-hours.

Meanwhile, a further 27 people were reported to have died with the virus at the region’s hospitals.

On Wednesday, the Government announced a further 26,688 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, taking the total number to 789,229.

This is a jump of more than 5,000 on the 21,330 positive cases confirmed on Tuesday and is the highest daily rise in lab-confirmed coronavirus cases since the outbreak began.

A further 191 people died within 28 days of a positive test, meaning the death toll reached 44,158.

The daily number of positive cases has climbed steeply in recent weeks and has nearly doubled in the last fortnight.

The daily figure was 19,724 positive cases seven days ago and 14,162 a week before that.

The number of patients in hospital and on ventilators is also increasing.

Separate Government figures show there were 5,828 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England on Tuesday – the latest figure available – up from 3,905 a week ago, while 559 were in ventilation beds, up from 441.

These numbers are highest in the North-West of the country, where 2,042 patients were in hospital as of Tuesday, with 186 people on ventilators.