THE TOTAL number of deaths in Northumbria Healthcare Trust hospitals continues to increase.

NHS England's update on Wednesday showed that the death toll at the region's hospitals has increased to 172.

The latest figures from Public Health England show that the total number of lab-confirmed cases in the county has risen to 897, up from 867 on Monday.

In Northumberland, the coronavirus rates per 100,000 resident population stands at 280.1.

Nationally, there has been 229,705 lab-confirmed cases across the UK, an increase of 3,242 on Tuesday.

The Government's latest figures show there have been a total of 33,186 Covid-19 associated deaths in the UK.