Two more patients have died at Royal Bolton hopsital after testing positive for coronavirus, NHS England has announced today.

This brings the current total of coronavirus deaths in Bolton to seven.

As of 31 March there are 48 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bolton, according to Public Health England.

This is only one case more than the previous day, suggesting that the spread of the virus is slowing down in Bolton.

There were 381 coronavirus related deaths in the UK on 31 March, and 3,009 new cases of the virus announced by Public Health England.

There have been 25,150 people who have tested positive for the virus in the UK and a total of 1,789 deaths. However, 135 patients have recovered from the virus.

At a press conference the medical director of NHS England Professor Stephen Powis said that there is evidence that social distancing was working in the 'plateau' in the number of new cases of people testing positive for coronavirus.

He said: "It is really important not to read too much because it is really early days. We are not out of the woods, we are very much in the woods.

"So green shoots but only green shoots and we must not be complacent and we must not take our foot off the pedal."