Number of known coronavirus cases in Northamptonshire now stands at 21

The number of known coronavirus cases in Northamptonshire now stands at 21.

Public Health England released the figure — a rise of one from 24 hours earlier — last night after earlier revealing the numbers nationwide have reached 5,683 as at 9am on 22 March 2020.

A total of 281 patients in the UK who tested positive for the Covid-19 bug have died, two of which are known to have been in Northamptonshire.

But England's Chief Medical Officer warns the actual people infected is much higher since the NHS switched their focus on testing to those already in hospital and healthcare professionals.

County health authorites will today start contacting elderly people and those with serious health conditions urging them to stay at home for the next 12 weeks.

Government communities secretary Robert Jenrick said the move was to “shield the most vulnerable to save their lives.”

Medicines will be delivered by community pharmacists, while military personnel are helping to coordinate plans to deliver groceries with local councils and supermarkets.

Dad-of-two Craig Ruston, 45, who had motor neurone disease died in Kettering General Hospital last week after testing positive. Officials at Northampton General Hospital also confirmed a 92-year-old man had died there on March 16.

Northamptonshire's first coronavirus case was reported on March 3. Two more members of the same family also tested positive within a week — all after returning from northern Italy which is now the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe, with 5,476 recorded deaths.

On March 11 we reported cases at Southfield School in Kettering, followed by a en employee at Nationwide Building Society's administration centre in Northampton five days later.

And most recently supermarket chain Morrisons confirmed a worker at their distribution centre in Burton Latimer had also tested positive.

The Covid -19 virus was first identified in China on December 31 last year but has since spread to at least 177 countries and territories.