TWO more people who tested positive  for COVID-19 have died while under the care of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals, has now registered the deaths of eight people who tested positive for COVID-19.

Both of the newly-registered patients died on Sunday.

On Wednesday, data from NHS England showed that two patients died on March 28 while one died the following day on March 29.

Three patients also died on March 22, 27 and 28, which were the first registered deaths linked to the coronavirus at the trust.

Across England, a further 561 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 2,698.

Patients were aged between 22 and 100 years old, while 44 of the 561 patients had no known underlying health condition.

The daily update is provided by NHS England and comprises of the number of deaths reported and verified by trusts in England in the 24 hours prior to 5pm the previous day.

This means there can be a time lapse from the day the patient dies to when it is actually recorded and then reported.

Earlier today, the Department for Health and Social Care said as of 9am April 2, a total of 163,194 people have been tested of whom 33,718 tested positive.

As of 5pm on April 1, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,921 have died.

This is an increase of 569 from the previous day, the biggest daily rise in the UK to date.