ONE more coronavirus-related death has been recorded at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust in the latest official figures.

NHS England figures show 249 people have now died in hospital at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust as of 5pm on Thursday (June 18) since the start of the pandemic.

This is an increase of one compared to Wednesday, when there were 248.

A week ago, there had been 247 deaths recorded.

There have been 4,556 deaths recorded across the North West, which is the third-worst affected of England's seven NHS regions after London and the Midlands.

Of 188 trusts in England,Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh trust has the 38th-highest death toll.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the last 24 hours may actually have taken place days earlier.

This latest death in the WWL trust's figures was on June 17.

NHS England guidance states: "Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure."

Only deaths that occur in hospitals where the patient has tested positive for Covid-19 are recorded, with deaths in the community excluded, such as those in care homes.

Across England, 46 more patients have died as the death toll hit 28,220 on Thursday, up from 28,174 on Wednesday.

Separate figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show 300,469 people had tested positive for Covid-19 across the UK as of 9am on Thursday, up from 299,251.