Three further deaths from Covid-19 within Morecambe Bay hospitals

The figures released over the weekend by NHS England mean there have now been 13 new deaths recorded in the 10 days.

NHS England recorded two deaths on Saturday October 3 and one on Sunday October 4.

Previously there were three deaths on September 30 and two deaths on both September 24 and 27.

This brings the total of deaths after testing positive for coronavirus at hospitals run by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust to 183, with the numbers roughly split between the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Furness General Hospital in Barrow.

And it comes after a period of five weeks with no recorded deaths.

More than 400 people have been discharged from UHMBT after making a recovery.

Although the Lancaster City Council area still has the lowest Covid-19 case rate in Lancashire, the figures are rising – with 45.9 cases per 100,000 people in the week to September 25.

This is an increase from 28.8 cases recorded per 100,000 in the week up to September 18.

To put this into perspective, the 45.9 case per 100,000 rate is equivalent to 0.0459 per cent of the population testing positive in that week.

More than 1,085 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Lancaster district, which has a population of 144,000, since March.