Wirral has seen its first deaths due to coronavirus since May.

This sad news comes after the borough recorded a whole month without any COVID-19 deaths in June.

The latest figures show that three people died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus in the week up to July 7.

It is the first time COVID-19 has resulted in a fatality in Wirral since May 30.

However, weekly deaths from COVID-19 remain far below what they were in January, when 70 people in the borough died from the virus in the space of one week.

The latest deaths take Wirral's coronavirus death toll to 810.

In recent weeks COVID-19 cases have rocketed in the borough.

In the week up to May 19, as pubs and restaurants were beginning to reopen indoors, there were just 14 cases of the virus in Wirral, at a rate of four per 100,000.

But in the latest numbers, which cover the week up to July 5, there were 1,516 Covid-19 cases in the borough, at a rate of 468 per 100,000.

Even compared to the previous week, the seven days up to June 28, when Wirral recorded 982 cases of the virus at a rate of 303 per 100,000, the latest figures reveal a significant surge in infections.

The vaccination programme, which has already seen more than 34 million people in the UK given two jabs, has helped to weaken the link between cases and deaths.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that cases were predicted to rise to 50,000 per day before the end of July and that there will continue to be deaths due to COVID-19 when all legal limits on gathering end on July 19, so-called 'Freedom Day'.

Among the changes to take place a week on Monday will be the reopening of nightclubs, the return to full stadiums for sports matches and the end of the ban on ordering drinks at the bar in pubs.

The legal requirement to wear a mask in shops and on public transport will also end.