NO further coronavirus-related hospital deaths have been reported in north and west Cumbria, but there has been two further fatalities at the trust which runs south Cumbria’s hospitals.

The NHS England figures released yesterday show that the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust – which runs hospitals including the Furness General in Barrow, the Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal and hospitals in Lancashire – recorded two new deaths.

It is the first time a death has been reported since Monday and only the third announced by the trust in the last two weeks.

At the North Cumbria Integrated Care (or NCIC) NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven – there were no new deaths announced yesterday or on Saturday.

The last death at the north Cumbria trust was on May 16.

Meanwhile the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust – which runs hospitals including the Carleton Clinic in Carlisle – has not recorded any deaths since April 26.

The total to have died of coronavirus-related illness at the three trusts is 146 at the NCIC trust; seven at the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Trust; and 162 at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust.

It is important to remember that some deaths take a number of days to be announced.