NO new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in St Helens since Tuesday, according to the latest official figures.

Public Health England data shows that, since the start of the outbreak in mid-March, 751 people have been confirmed as testing positive for COVID-19. This was by 9am on Saturday morning (May 30) in St Helens.

That figure has actually been revised down from 752 in midweek. There have been no new cases recorded in St Helens since Tuesday's figures.

A week ago there had been 742 cases - meaning a rise of just nine cases over seven days.

There remains the possibilty there are people in the community with the virus who are not showing symptoms and have therefore not been tested.

However, the figures, coming ahead of a further easing of the lockdown, appear to suggest the infection rate is continuing to fall in St Helens, although local public health leaders remain cautious and do not want to be drawn on a local R-rate, instead looking at cases on a regional level.

As reported earlier, today's figures also show one more person has died at St Helens and Knowsley Trust after testing positive for coronavirus.

This brings the Trust's death toll to 194 since the start of the outbreak.

This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that from Monday in England, friends and families can meet in parks and gardens in socially distanced groups of six.

But there have been those who have voiced concerns.

A growing number of expert advisers to the Government on the coronavirus crisis have expressed concern about plans to ease lockdown restrictions in England from Monday.

As people flocked to beaches and beauty spots in the sweltering heat over the weekend, Professor Peter Horby, of the University of Oxford, joined scientists Sir Jeremy Farrar and Professor John Edmunds, all members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), to warn that ministers are taking risks.

Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) which advises Sage, emphasised on Saturday that some 8,000 infections nationally, and 400 deaths, a day are still occurring.

Speaking in a personal capacity, he told the PA news agency: "Put all this together and you have a huge risk, and it's not just me saying that, that there will be an increase in infection rates.

"Because we don't have track and trace in place, we won't know whether this easing of the lockdown has caused (an) increase in infections for some time, by which time it will be well under way.

"The Government is not taking its responsibilities for political leadership seriously.

"This should not be treated as a political crisis but as a health crisis, if you treat it as a political crisis it's all about managing your reputation, if you treat it as a health crisis it's about saving lives."