THERE have been 244 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the North East and North Yorkshire.

A further eight people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,639, NHS England said on Thursday.

Patients were aged between 39 and 93 years old and all but one patient had known underlying health conditions.

The dates of the deaths were between September 4 and September 9.

The Government said that as of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 2,919 cases of coronavirus. Overall, 358,138 cases have been confirmed.

The Government dashboard also said 41,608 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, an increase of 14 on the day before.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,400 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. No deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Coronavirus cases in the region as of Thursday, September 10: County Durham: 3,748 was 3,709; Darlington: 652 was 649; Gateshead: 1,514 was 1,497; Hartlepool: 715 was 708; Middlesbrough: 1,191 was 1,867; Newcastle: 1,903 was 1,867; North Tyneside: 1,083 was 1,060; North Yorkshire: 2,947 was 2,914; Northumberland: 1,762 was 1,756; Redcar and Cleveland: 807 was 800; South Tyneside: 1,157 was 1,147; Stockton: 1,101 was 1,089; Sunderland: 2,121 was 2,089; York: 1,008 was 1,000.