NO new deaths linked to coronavirus have been recorded by St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for the third day running.

Today’s update from NHS England means three days have passed without any new coronavirus-related deaths being reported at the trust.

Since the outbreak began, 177 people have died in hospitals managed by the trust after testing positive for COVID-19.

READ > St Helens Council says it will back schools' decision over wider opening

There have been encouraging signs in recent weeks, with the number of deaths reducing and several days going by with no new deaths reported.

Today’s NHS figures show that no new deaths linked to coronavirus have been registered at the trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals.

The last coronavirus-related death at the trust was reported on Sunday, where one death was reported by NHS England.

However, NHS England has also confirmed that the COVID-19 Patient Notification System did not operate for a period of time on Saturday.

It said this may be reflected in the number of deaths reported today.

The figures reported by NHS England and NHS Improvement provides information on all coronavirus-related (suspected and confirmed) deaths in England hospitals.

At the latest count, a further 166 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 25,079.

Patients were aged between 33 and 99 years old.  Five of the 166 patients – aged between 54 and 70 – had no known underlying health condition.

North West hospital trusts registered 21 of the 166 deaths.

In addition, 31 deaths across England – including five in the North West – were registered where there was no positive test result but where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

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

These figures do not include deaths outside hospital, such as those in care homes.

Cases are only included in the data when the positive COVID-19 test result is received, or death certificate confirmed with COVID-19 mentioned.

READ > Five more deaths in St Helens care homes linked to coronavirus

This results in a lag between a given date of death and the daily death figures for that day.

NHS England and NHS Improvement do not publish recovery figures.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has requested figures on the number of people discharged from hospitals run by St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust after testing positive for COVID-19, but the trust has chosen not to release this information.