Six new coronavirus deaths recorded in West Sussex
It comes as the county gets set to move into Tier 4 restrictions
Six more hospital patients in West Sussex have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.
The latest figures from NHS England showed three patients being cared for by the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust passed away on Sunday (December 20th) and another died on Monday (December 21st).
They are the first deaths recorded at the trust in five days, with the total since the start of the pandemic increasing to 144.
The trust runs St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, Worthing Hospital and Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.
It comes as the county prepares to move into the toughest coronavirus restrictions in England -Tier 4 - from Boxing Day on Saturday.
The victims were among 5,193 deaths recorded across the South East.
Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.
This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the latest period may actually have taken place days earlier.
NHS England guidance states: "Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure."
In total, 557 deaths have been recorded in West Sussex where people had a positive coronavirus test result for Covid-19 and died within 28 days of the first positive test in all settings, including care homes, private homes and in hospices.
Mid Sussex has seen the most with 140 deaths, followed by Horsham with 112, Crawley, with 83, Worthing with 67, Arun with 64, Chichester with 62 and Adur with 29.
As of Thursday morning, 12,826 people had tested positive for coronavirus in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic, including 1,788 in the last seven days.
The rate of infections is 1,484.5 per 100,000 people, below the national average for England (3,267.5) and the South East (2,379.2).
Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex in the last week (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).
Mid Sussex - 434 (287.4)
Arun - 368 (228.9)
Crawley - 296 (263.3)
Horsham - 186 (129.4)
Chichester - 176 (145.3)
Adur - 172 (267.5)
Worthing - 156 (141.1)
Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).
Mid Sussex - 2,740 (1,814.3)
Arun - 2,086 (1297.6)
Crawley - 2,043 (1,817.5)
Horsham - 2,036 (1,415.9)
Chichester - 1,635 (1,349.8)
Worthing - 1,398 (1264.4)
Adur - 888 (1,381)