No new patient deaths at Royal Bolton Hospital have been linked to coronavirus.

Figures published by NHS England yesterday afternoon showed no patients had died after contracting covid-19.

The borough’s hospital has now seen 217 deaths linked to coronavirus, with 320 deaths in the borough connected to the deadly virus.

Latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday morning showed that 87 deaths registered in Bolton care homes had featured covid-19 on the death certificate.

The deaths, which occurred up to May 15 but were registered before May 23, also showed seven in hospice, seven at home, and two deaths “elsewhere” linked to the virus.

Almost a third of all deaths in the borough since March 22 have been linked to coronavirus, meaning Bolton fares slightly worse than the national picture, where three in every ten deaths have been linked to the virus.

Almost 280,000 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed across the nation, with 1,025 people in the borough testing positive for the virus as of 9am on Wednesday morning.

The news came as Downing Street confirmed that figures on NHS England’s test and trace system will be published weekly – but were unable to announce when the first data set would be made available.