THREE more patients died at Warrington Hospital over the weekend after contracting coronavirus.

The sad news was confirmed this afternoon, Monday, by Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in its latest Covid-19 update.

It means that as a result, the trust’s virus death toll to date has now risen to 618.

At present, 47 beds at the Lovely Lane site are occupied by patients that have tested positive for the virus in the past 14 days or less.

Of this number, only one is in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

This is a rise of six patients since Friday, with the number in the ICU remaining the same.

However, an additional 33 patients were discharged from Warrington Hospital over the weekend after recovering from coronavirus.

This takes the trust’s virus discharge total since the start of the pandemic to 3,070.

Across Warrington as a whole, the number of new Covid cases being recorded continues to fall, the latest official data shows.

During the week up to February 1, which is the most recent period for which figures are available, 1,513 new cases were detected in the town.

This takes into account lab-reported tests and positive rapid lateral flow tests that do not have a negative confirmatory lab-based PCR test within 72 hours.

It demonstrates an infection rate of 722.6 cases among every 100,000 residents, which is the 286th highest rate in the UK at present.

Comparatively, the previous seven-day period up to January 25 saw 1,867 infections recorded at a rate of 891.6.