THREE more people have died in Somerset after testing positive for coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the county's hospitals has now risen to 17.

The latest deaths were all in the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

In total, there have been nine deaths in the Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust, with three deaths in Yeovil, three deaths in Weston, and two in Somerset Partnership hospitals.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Somerset has risen to 135.

That represents an increase of 21 cases since the figures recorded by Public Health England on Monday.

The number of people in the UK tested for coronavirus since the outbreak began was at 232,708, as of 9am on April 8.

This is the equivalent of around 349 people in every 100,000, or 0.3% of the population.

On average just under 11,400 new people were tested a day in the seven days up to April 8.

In the previous seven days the daily average was just under 8,000.

The number of new coronavirus-related hospital deaths in the UK announced today by the Department of Health - 938 - is not a measure of how many people have died since yesterday's update.

It includes deaths that occurred in the past few days and weeks, but have only now been reported by hospitals.