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NHS England has confirmed another Covid-related death among patients in Northamptonshire's hospitals.

Tuesday’s bulletin reported 73 people sadly dying with the virus in England, including one at Kettering General Hospital on Saturday (July 17).

This is the third Covid-related death in the county in just over a month and takes the toll to 1,186 since the pandemic began.

Rules requiring people to wear face coverings and stay two metres apart were dropped on Monday

Hospital chiefs yesterday confirmed 38 Covid patients occupying beds at Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital — an increase from 24 since Friday.

Yesterday's sad news came as 666 positive tests were reported in the county on Tuesday, which is the highest daily number since January 9.

The 3,732 who have tested positive in the last ten days plus all those pinged as close contacts — believed to be around 10,000 people — will all currently be self-isolating.

Boris Johnson gave the go ahead for Freedom Day on Monday (July 19), allowing people to mix freely without the need for face coverings or social distance because Covid vaccines had weakened the link between the virus and hospitalisations.

Officials are concerned about low vaccine uptake in Northampton and Corby

But the Prime Minister also delivered a grim warning: "We're seeing rising hospital admissions, and we must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from Covid."

Every adult in Northamptonshire has been offered at least a first Covid jab but more than 140,000 are yet to take up the offer — nearly 22 percent of all over-18s in the county.

More than a quarter-of-a-million adults, close to 40 percent, are still to have both jabs.

Uptake has been even lower in Northampton and Corby with

The number of positive Covid tests is rising across in Northamptonshire leading to more people being forced to self-isolate

Chris Pallot, director of the county's vaccination programme, said: "There are still many people who can come forward and have that vaccination who have not take up that offer that has been made to everybody across our county."

The growing number of people pinged as close contacts of those testing positive is putting workforces under pressure.

Some shops, pubs and restaurants have been forced to close their doors and West Northamptonshire Council warned this week that food waste collections in Northampton would be disrupted.

NHS confirms Covid death at Northamptonshire hospital as number of patients jumps by one-third in four days