Another 50 people die with coronavirus across Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire
Fifty more coronavirus patients have been confirmed to have died in the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire where the death toll now stands at 1,293.
Meanwhile the UK-wide death toll has risen by 861 to 13,729, although these figures only include hospital deaths meaning the true figure is likely to be far higher.
Of 740 deaths confirmed in England yesterday, eight were at the Dudley Group NHS Trust where 162 patients have so far died.
Four more deaths were confirmed at the Royal Wolverhampton trust, where 182 people have died, and six deaths were announced at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell and City Hospitals, making a new trust total of 219.
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At University Hospitals of North Midlands, which runs Stafford County and Stoke Royal hospitals, another nine people have died making the latest death toll 119.
And 21 more people have died at University Hospitals Birmingham, taking the total now to over 500, at 505.
Two more people have also died at Birmingham Community Healthcare, where the total stands at 14.
No new deaths have been reported at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which still has a toll of 98.
The 740 English patients included in today's figures were aged between 28 and 103.
A total of 40 of the 740 patients – aged between 45 and 93 – had no known underlying health conditions.
The news came as the Government announced a three-week extension to the coronavirus lockdown measures and the Nightingale Hospital in Birmingham opened at the NEC.
The Duke of Cambridge praised NHS workers’ “selfless commitment” as he officially opened the hospital which has been transformed form an exhibition centre in just eight days.
And firefighters in the West Midlands have started helping to move the bodies of people who have died of coronavirus, working voluntarily in 12-hour shifts.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will look at ways to recognise the “heroic efforts” of 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore, who has raised more than £13 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden.
In other fundraising news, a Codsall man is walking 100 miles in his back garden to raise money for the NHS.
