NEW testing equipment has been installed at Royal Bolton Hospital to help diagnose cases of coronavirus.

The equipment is expected to be put to use by the start of next week to enable more patients to be tested for the virus, with the possibility of 48 patients being tested each day.

More efficient testing will allow the hospital give help to those who need it most, and ensure that those who test positive for Covid-19 receive the correct care.

A spokesman for the hospital said: “The new platform will allow us to test up to 48 patients for Covid-19 per day initially and will give us results back the same day, helping to manage them more promptly.

“It is hoped to be able to start additional testing at the start of the next week.”

Andy Ennis, chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, announced the arrival of the equipment on Twitter. He said: “Very excited to see our C19 test machines have arrived, thanks to our ace lab team, they will be up and running superfast by Saturday, a game changer for the management of patient care. I was so excited I took our new CEO Fiona Noden to see.”

MP for Bolton West and Atherton Chris Green also celebrated the arrival of the new machines on Twitter. He said: “Good to see the arrival of new C19 testing machines in Bolton NHS Trust.”

The Covid-19 testing equipment arrives following the announcement of the Government’s plans to increase coronavirus testing, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledging to increase the number of tests for the virus to 100,000 per day by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, it was announced that three more people had died at Royal Bolton Hospital after contracting coronavirus.

NHS England confirmed that a total of 7,248 people in England had died with the virus.

Forty-nine of these deaths have occurred at Royal Bolton Hospital since the outbreak began.

These figures may rise as deaths are only added to the statistics after a post mortem examination confirms the diagnosis. They do not include deaths which may have occurred outside hospitals.

As of 9am on Wednesday, 204 cases had been confirmed in the borough and 11 deaths were confirmed, a record daily high. In the last week, 37 people have died in Bolton after contracting Covid-19.