Hospitals in south Essex have recorded the deaths of five patients diagnosed with coronavirus in the past day.
Three of the deaths took place at Basildon Hospital, with one at Chelmsford’s Broomfield Hospital and another at The Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Harlow.
Southend Hospital reported no patients diagnosed with the virus died on Friday.
Basildon Hospital has recorded the deaths of 49 patients with Covid-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic, Broomfield Hospital has reported 15 deaths and Southend Hospital 17.
Countrywide, a five-year-old child is among 637 people who tested positive for Covid-19 and later died on Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 3,939, NHS England said.
The oldest patient was 104, and 40 had no known underlying conditions, aged between 48 and 93.
NHS England said 212 of the deaths of patients with Covid-19 were in the Midlands, with 127 in London, 97 in the North West, 73 in the North East and Yorkshire, 70 in the East of England, 41 in the South East and 17 in the South West.
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