MORE than 400 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Northumberland in the last seven days.

According to the latest figures from Public Health England, the total number of lab-confirmed cases in the county now stands at 2,331 - an increase of 403 in the last seven days.

Northumberland County Council's data showed that 78 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Wednesday - the most recent day the council has data for.

The rate of positive cases per 100,000 in the last seven days stands at 125.8 - a significant increase from last week's figure of 84.62.

Ponteland has confirmed 28 cases in the last seven days - the most of any town in the Hexham constituency. Ponteland North ward saw the second highest number of cases confirmed of any ward in the county at 16.

The death toll at Northumbria Healthcare hospitals now stands at 207, with two deaths attributed to coronavirus registered on Wednesday.

The R-rate for the region, which includes the North East and Yorkshire, stands at 1.2-1.5.

Nationally, there have now been 423,236 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus across the UK - an increase of 6,874 on the previous day.

The overall death toll from the virus increased by 34 to 41,936 on Friday. 1,616 people are currently being treated in hospital, with 243 on ventilators.