A further two patients being treated for Covid-19 have died at a Norfolk hospital.

Both patients died on May 1 at Gorleston’s James Paget Hospital, bringing the hospital’s total number of recorded deaths up to 87.

Elsewhere in the region, one death was recorded at The Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in King’s Lynn.

There were no fatalities registered at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Norfolk as a whole, meanwhile, has recorded 284 deaths of hospitalised coronavirus patients since the outbreak began, with only QEH breaking the 100-mark.

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)

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.

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.”

The James Paget Hospital is the first in the region to sign 50 of their Covid-19 patients onto a national drug trial which may find a treatment for coronavirus by the end of the year.

It is taking part in the NHS National Institute of Health Research’s (NIHR) ‘RECOVERY’ trial into four drugs that are being studied to see if they help treat patients diagnosed with the virus.

Patients in this trial randomly receive either standard care, high flow oxygen or the use of CPAP machines which typically support patients with sleep apnoea - a condition where airways become blocked while unconscious.