Three more patients who tested positive for Covid-19 have died at a Norfolk hospital.

All three died on May 1 at Gorleston’s James Paget University Hospital, bringing the hospital’s total number of fatalities to 85.

Elsewhere in the region, one Covid-19 patient died at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and three who were being treated at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.

Norfolk as a whole has recorded 281 deaths of hospitalised coronavirus patients since the outbreak began, with only QEH breaking the 100-mark.However, data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics showed that all seven of Norfolk’s local authorities recorded lower-than-average coronavirus death rates when compared with England and Wales as a whole.

Between March 1 and April 17, when adjusting for size and age structure of the population, there were 36.2 deaths involving COVID-19 per 100,000 people in England and Wales.

Great Yarmouth Mercury: The James Paget Hospital's new 'respiratory A&E' unit. Photo: Simon StevensThe James Paget Hospital's new 'respiratory A&E' unit. Photo: Simon Stevens (Image: Archant)

Norwich recorded just 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people over the same period of time.

But Dr Louise Smith, the county’s public health director, said: “While these figures are encouraging we have to be mindful they may not tell the whole story.

“Not only do they only cover the period to the 17th of April, when Norfolk was one of the last areas of the country to be impacted by Covid 19, they are also very small numbers that we can’t reliably use to look at the situation in Norfolk as a whole.

“While these figures are welcome, the fact is we won’t have a full picture of Covid 19’s impact in our county for some time.”

Great Yarmouth Mercury: The heartwarming footage, released by the James Paget University Hospital, in Gorleston, shows a patient wheeled out of her ward by a porter to the rapturous applause of hospital workers who oversaw her care. Photo: James Paget University HospitalThe heartwarming footage, released by the James Paget University Hospital, in Gorleston, shows a patient wheeled out of her ward by a porter to the rapturous applause of hospital workers who oversaw her care. Photo: James Paget University Hospital (Image: Archant)