Seven more coronavirus deaths in North East as UK death toll continues to rise

Seven more people have died in the North East after contracting coronavirus.

A total of 383 deaths were reported by NHS England on Thursday afternoon, taking the total number of Covid-19 -related fatalities in the country to 22,432.

Of those, 58 occurred on May 6, 120 were confirmed on May 5 and a further 29 were recorded on May 4.

The figures also revealed 12 of the new deaths took place on May 3, a further 13 on May 2 and four more on May 1.

A total of 131 of the deaths took place in April, while the remaining 16 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest on March 19.

NHS England confirmed the latest victims were aged between 28 and 100 - including 41 with no underlying health conditions.

In the North East, there were four deaths reported by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, the highest in the region, while there were two further deaths announced by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Latest North East deaths by NHS trust

County Durham and Darlington - 4

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear - 0

Gateshead - 0

Northumbria - 0

South Tyneside and Sunderland - 1

Newcastle - 2

North Tees and Hartlepool - 0

South Tees - 0

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys - 0

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said the Government will proceed with “maximum caution” when it comes to easing the coronavirus lockdown.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson told the Cabinet on Thursday that nothing would be done which risked a second peak in the outbreak.

Ahead of his statement on Sunday setting out the next steps in the Government’s response, the Prime Minister warned that he would not hesitate to tighten the rules again if required.

The spokesman said: “The Prime Minister said that in considering whether there could be any easement in the existing guidelines that we are not going to do anything that risks a second peak.

“We will advance with maximum caution in order to protect the NHS and save lives.

“We will be guided at every step by the science and the data and we will closely track the impact of any easing of the social distancing measures and will not hesitate to tighten the rules if required.”