Four more people who had tested positive for coronavirus at Norfolk’s hospitals have died, according to new figures.
NHS figures showed two more people had died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and two more at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.
It comes as Norfolk saw 20 further confirmed cases of coronavirus - up from 70 to 90 in 24 hours.
Caroline Shaw, chief executive for QEH, said: “We can confirm that sadly, a female patient in her late 60s and a male patient aged in his 70s who both had underlying health conditions passed away at QEH on Thursday, March 26.
“They had tested positive for COVID-19. Our thoughts and condolences remain with the families and loved ones at this difficult time.”
It means that nine people confirmed to have the virus have now died in Norfolk.
Three people had previously died at the NNUH and two at the QEH.
The NNUH has yet to release any details of the two deaths which NHS England said occurred there on Friday.
The previous deaths at the NNUH were of a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s on Wednesday and a man in his 50s on Tuesday.
Two men, one in their 60s and the other in his 70s, died at the QEH on Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18.
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The Norfolk deaths were confirmed as Department for Health figures showed a further 260 people in the UK had died after testing positive for coronavirus.
A total of 1,019 patients have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday, the Department of Health said.
That was up from 759 the day before - by far the biggest day-on-day rise in the number of deaths since the outbreak began.
A total of 120,776 people have been tested for coronavirus as of 9am on March 28, the Department of Health said, with 17,089 positive results.
During the gpvernment’s daily televised press conference Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said: “Clearly there has been a big increase in deaths today.”
But he echoed the words of Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, saying: “If we can keep deaths below 20,000 we will have done very well in this epidemic.”
There have now been 1,001 positive tests in the East of England, as of Saturday, a leap of 205 from the 796 24 hours earlier.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected more than half a million people worldwide, with more than 24,000 deaths recorded.
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