ANOTHER four people being treated in East Lancashire after testing positive for coronavirus have died, NHS England has confirmed.

That brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the area to 16, with some of those figures including people who have been tested post mortem.

Previous data had shown that three people died on April 1 and one on April 2 after contracting the virus.

But the latest data, released today, now shows that following post mortem examinations four people died after contracting Covid-19 on both April 1 and April 2.

They also show that one person died on March 20, one on March 23, one on March 24, two on March 28, one on March 29 and two on March 30.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Royal Blackburn and Burnley General, has previously been contacted for comment.

Although no details about 14 of the deceased have been released tributes were paid in the Lancashire Telegraph to two men who both died in March after contracting the virus. They were Bill Smith, from Great Harwood, who was 81 and had underlying health conditions, and 90-year-old William Henry Laycock, known as Harry, from Accrington.

The number of confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in England has now hit 4,494, including 509 in the North-West.