THERE have been nearly 3,000 new coronavirus cases recorded in the North-East and North Yorkshire over the weekend.

On Sunday, the total number of confirmed deaths recorded in hospitals in England rose to 60,921 after 631 deaths.

Patients were aged between 29 and 103.

All except 31, aged between 46 and 93, had known underlying health conditions.

The deaths were between November 5 and January 16.

There were 36 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Someone is being admitted to hospital with coronavirus “every thirty seconds”, NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has said.

He told the Andrew Marr Show: “The facts are very clear and I’m not going to sugar-coat them, hospitals are under extreme pressure and staff are under extreme pressure.

“Since Christmas Day we’ve seen another 15,000 increase in the in-patients in hospitals across England, that’s the equivalent of filling 30 hospitals full of coronavirus patients.

“Staggeringly, every thirty seconds across England another patient is being admitted to hospital with coronavirus.”

Here is a breakdown by local authority of the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases: County Durham: 29,670 was 29,236; Darlington: 5,517 was 5,397; Gateshead: 11,201 was 11,053; Hartlepool: 7,052 was 6,928; Middlesbrough: 9,023 was 8,836; Newcastle: 19,691 was 19,448; North Tyneside: 9,505 was 9,392; North Yorkshire: 23,286 was 22,875; Northumberland: 13,601 was 13,375; Redcar and Cleveland: 6,968 was 6,821; South Tyneside: 9,152 was 9,047; Stockton: 11,832 was 11,612; Sunderland: 16,748 was 16,477; York: 10,054 was 9,841.

Total increase:2,962