THE first coronavirus death recorded in local hospitals in more than a week has been included in today’s NHS figures.

The figures are updated by NHS England and NHS Improvement every day and include confirmed death cases reported at 5pm the previous day.

Today’s update shows that one patient died at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on Thursday, June 25, after testing positive for COVID-19.

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It is the first death at the trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals, to be included in the daily figures since Tuesday, June 23.

This means that to date, the trust, which runs Whiston, St Helens and Newton hospitals, has recorded 207 coronavirus-related deaths.

Cases are only included in the data when a positive COVID-19 test result is received, or where COVID-19 is documented as a direct or underlying cause of death on the death certificate.

This results in a lag between the date a death occurred and the date it is reported in the figures.

Across the country, a further 50 people who tested positive for the COVID-19 have died.

Patients were aged between 52 and 97 years old. Two patients, aged 52 and 63, had no known underlying health conditions.

In addition, 14 people died where COVID-19 was mentioned on their death certificate but where there was no positive test result.

Today’s update brings bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 28,759.

Locally, the number of excess deaths has fallen below the five-year average for the first time since March.

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I infections have also been gradually decreasing following the peak of the outbreak in April.

NHS England and NHS Improvement do not publish recovery figures.

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has not published any data related to how many patients it is caring for or discharged who have contracted COVID-19.