NHS staff serving the peninsula have saved the lives of 53 Covid-19 victims this week and allowed them to go home.

The patients were all discharged from Ipswich and Colchester hospitals after being treated for coronavirus symptoms.

The East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which run the hospital that cover the Shotley peninsula confirmed the number of successfully treated patients in the past week and added: "These patients are home thanks to the care and dedication of all #TeamESNEFT colleagues."

The 53 survivors are in addition to the 190 already saved by hospital staff at Ipswich and Colchester and the area's community hospitals, which make up the Trust.

However, Nick Hulme, ESNEFT chief executive, has also had to confirm the deaths of 42 people at Ipswich Hospital and further 27 in Colchester,over the past seven days.

All are understood to have had underlying medical conditions and the ages range from in their 90s to someone in the r40s, inclusive of all other decades in between.

Latest figures released this afternoon show there are 814 confirmed cases in Suffolk. However, with routine community testing currently discontinued, these figures will not describe the full extent of cases locally.

Nationally 425,821 people have been tested, of whom 138,078 have tested positive. As of 5pm on 22 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 18,738 have died.

Click for up to date Cornonavirus advice and updates from ESNEFT.