Harrogate hospital Covid-19 death toll rises again as four more deaths confirmed

Harrogate hospital has now reported 132 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic.

NHS figures released today show one patient died at the hospital on Sunday and three on Monday.

It brings the hospital's Covid-19 death toll since the pandemic began up to 132.

Across the UK, a total of 1,449 people who tested positive have died in hospitals today in the highest daily total since last Wednesday.

One of those deaths was Captain Sir Tom Moore, the fundraising war veteran who opened Harrogate's NHS Nightingale hospital and was made an honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate in April last year.

The 100-year-old from Keighley, West Yorkshire was taken to hospital after requiring help with his breathing on Sunday. His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said he had been treated for pneumonia over the past few weeks and last week tested positive for Covid-19.

Harrogate hospital last week reported that the number of Covid-19 patients in beds had risen to 57 - a record high.

The increase in patient numbers and deaths comes as Harroagte's seven-day infection rate per 100,000 people now stands at 181.

That figure has more than halved from the peak of infections in January (498) and is below the national average of 257.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter