There have been 75 days since the last coronavirus-related death at Stevenage’s Lister and Welwyn Garden City’s New QEII hospitals.

That’s according to statistics released by NHS England, which tracks the total number of coronavirus deaths per each NHS hospital Trust.

For our area, covered by the East and North Herts NHS Trust, July 26 saw the last recorded COVID-19 death.

But positive case numbers have been rising across the county in recent weeks.

Reacting to these figures, Nick Carver, chief executive at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, said: “While this is clearly good news, over the past month we have seen an increase in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 – so we must not be complacent.

“Washing your hands regularly, wearing a face covering where appropriate and maintaining good social distancing has and will continue to be vital in limiting the spread of the virus, which sadly has claimed many lives in our community and across the world.”

At the virus’ peak, there was a stretch of 121 coronavirus-related deaths at the Trust’s hospitals, with at least one person dying each day from March 23 to May 1.

In total, there have been 166 deaths at the Lister, New QEII and Hertford County hospitals, which are all overseen by the East and North Herts NHS Trust.