The number of coronavirus-related deaths in south Essex his risen by 29 according to the latest figures.

New statistics from NHS England show 86 people have now died at Basildon Hospital while 48 patients have died at Southend Hospital.

At last count Basildon Hospital had recorded 62 deaths while Southend Hospital had recorded 43.

It means there has been an increase of five in Southend and of 24 in Basildon.

Elsewhere in Essex, there have now been 90 deaths at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Harlow, 55 at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford and 66 at the trust which runs Colchester Hospital.

Across all of England, a further 765 patients have died after testing positive for the virus, bringing the total in the country to 7,248.

Patients were aged between 24 and 103 years old. 43 of the 765 patients - aged between 33 and 99 years old - had no known underlying health condition.  

The figures were released as it was all-but-confirmed the lockdown period will be extended beyond the long Easter weekend.

Speaking at the daily briefing at Number 10 yesterday, Foreign Secretary and stand-in PM Dominic Raab declared: “We are not done yet,” before adding data is being gathered on the impact of social-distancing.

He said: “While the early signs suggest that they are having the impact we need to see, it’s too early to say that conclusively.

Mr Raab said it was still “too early” to lift the lockdown restrictions in place across the UK. He added: “It’s been almost three weeks and we’re starting to see the impact of the sacrifices we’ve all made.

“But the deaths are still rising and we haven’t yet reached the peak of the virus. So it’s still too early to lift the measures that we put in place.

“We must stick to the plan and we must continue to be guided by the science.”

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies will meet next week to discuss the latest evidence.”

and we will keep the measures we’ve put in place under review.”

Mr Raab added: “We don’t expect to be able to say more on this until the end of next week.

“The measures will have to stay in place until we’ve got the evidence that clearly shows we’ve moved beyond the peak.”