THREE people have died in East Lancashire’s hospitals after testing positive for the coronavirus, the latest figures show.

It brings the total of fatalities in Burnley and Blackburn’s hospitals this week to four, after several weeks of no new deaths in the east of the county.

It comes after the Lancashire Telegraph reported yesterday that the number of coronavirus patients in East Lancashire Hospital Trust beds had started to rise, doubling in the last fortnight.

Two of the latest deaths occurred on Tuesday 22 with the third dying on Wednesday 23.

There have now been a total of 216 deaths within the trust.

On Thursday, deaths were announced within the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and in Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust.

Two fatalities were recorded in the former, with data showing the two patients died on September 23.

They are believed to be the first coronavirus-related deaths to take place inside the facility since the middle of August.

The trust has now reported a total of 173 deaths.

Meanwhile it had been almost two months since the Southport and Ormskirk NHS Foundation Trust had recorded a death.

The patient who died on September 22 brings the trust’s total death toll up to 152.