A BRIGHTON hospital trust has recorded its first death of a coronavirus patient in more than six weeks.

The death was confirmed at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust in the 24 hours leading up to 5pm yesterday.

This takes the total number of deaths of coronavirus patients at the hospital to 150, NHS England figures show.

A further coronavirus patient death was also recorded at the Western Sussex Hospitals Trust in this period, the  trust's first in a week, taking the its total to 127.

Recorded cases in Brighton and Hove increased by 68 in the 24 hours leading up to 9am today, taking the city’s total to 1,513.

The rate of infection in Brighton and Hove now stands at 520 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 989.

A 24-hour increase of 44 was seen in East Sussex, taking the region’s overall figure to 2,398, while the West Sussex total reached 4,173, a rise of 80 in a day.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 19,724 over the period, to 654,644.

In the 24 hours leading up to 5pm yesterday, there were 137 coronavirus deaths recorded.

This took the UK total to 43,155 deaths of people within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, government data shows.

The data also shows there have been 57,690 deaths in the UK with Covid-19 on the death certificate.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the latest period may actually have taken place days earlier.

NHS England guidance states: “Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure.”

Only deaths that occur in hospitals where the patient has tested positive for Covid-19 are recorded, with deaths in the community excluded, such as those in care homes.