SIX more people who tested positive for coronavirus have died at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, bringing the total up to 24.

The heartbreaking news comes after two days of no announced deaths at the trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals.

Confirmation of COVID-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take several days, particularly as the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure.

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This means the totals reported to NHS England at 5pm on each day may not include all deaths that occurred on that day or on recent prior days.

Previously, NHS England reported that two people died at the trust on Friday, April 3.

According today’s figures, two more patients died on Friday, bringing the daily total up to four.

Additionally, three people died on Saturday, April 4 and one patient died on Sunday, April 5.

Their families have been informed.

To date, there have been 24 confirmed cases of people who tested positive for COVID-19 who died at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Across England, a further 758 people have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 5,655.

Patients were aged between 23 and 102 years old, while 29 of the 758 patients had no known underlying health condition.

All of the deaths announced by NHS England are patients who have died in hospitals in England and had tested positive for COVID-19 at time of death.

The figures are updated by NHS England at 2pm each day and include confirmed cases reported at 5pm the previous day.

All deaths are recorded against the date of death rather than the date the deaths were announced.

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This means that, as deaths are confirmed as testing positive for COVID-19 and as more post-mortem tests are processed and validated, then previous day’s totals may rise.

The daily figures from NHS England do not include deaths outside hospital, such as those in care homes.

NHS England says this approach makes it possible to compile deaths data on a daily basis using up-to-date figures.