First coronavirus death at Basildon Hospital for nine weeks

NHS England figures show 309 people have now died in hospital at the hospital trust.

That was an increase of one compared to the 308 that had been recorded at the same point 63 days ago.

The victims are among 3,449 deaths recorded across the East of England since the beginning of the pandemic.

Of 23 trusts in the east of England, Basildon Hospital has the third-highest death toll.

The macabre news comes as the number of confirmed cases in the Essex County Council area increased by 72 over the latest 24-hour period.

Public Health England figures show a total of 7,031 people have been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am yesterday, up from 6,959 the same time on Wednesday.

The rate of infection in Essex now stands at 472 cases per 100,000 people, which is still far lower than the England average of 700.

In Southend, a further eight cases were confirmed at the latest 24-hour period.

Public Health England figures show, in Southend, 906 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am yesterday, up from 898 the same time on Wednesday.

In Thurrock, nine additional cases were confirmed in the same time period, taking the total number of confirmed cases there to 738.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 6,914 over the period, to 460,178.

The death comes as experts revealed it may take more than a year for everyone in the UK to get a Covid-19 vaccine should one become available early next year.

Professor Nilay Shah, who is head of the department of chemical engineering at Imperial College London, said that even if a vaccine becomes available in early spring, it does not mean life will be “returning to normal in March”.

He added that although the clinical trials for many of the Covid-19 vaccine candidates are currently being fast-tracked, they will still have to demonstrate a protective effect against Covid-19 and go through all the checks before being rolled out to the population.