FOUR more people who tested positive for coronavirus have died at the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, bringing the total up to 12.

According to the latest date from NHS England, two patients died on Monday, March 30 and two more people died the following day on Tuesday, March 31.

Their families have been informed.

In total, 12 people being cared for by the trust tested positive for COVID-19 at the time of death.

The first death at the trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals, was registered on March 22.

Across England, a further 604 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 3,302.

Patients were aged between 24 and 100 years old, with 34 having no known underlying health condition.

As of 5pm on April 2, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 3,605 have died, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.

This is an increase of 684 from the previous day, the biggest daily rise in the UK to date.

As of 9am on April 3, a total of 173,784 people have been tested of whom 38,168 tested positive for COVID-19.