THE number of deaths from coronavirus in the Braintree district has passed 500.

Two more Covid fatalities were reported in the previous five days when figures were updated on Wednesday.

That took the total number in the district to 501.

It compares to 504 deaths in the Colchester borough where there was one further death since Friday.

They were among 18,208 deaths now recorded across the East of England since the start of the pandemic.

The UK Health Security Agency is now reporting the latest coronavirus statistics weekly – in line with other respiratory infections as a part of the Government's Living with Covid strategy.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19.

A total of 157,338 deaths were recorded throughout England by July 6 – up from 157,037 on Friday.