The number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Bristol region rose by 77 in just a single day today - the biggest increase yet.
The number of cases confirmed in the Bristol city council area on Friday, April 17 was 413, up by 39 people from Thursday’s figure.
In South Gloucestershire, a further 24 people tested positive for coronavirus - up from 223 to 247.
In North Somerset, four more people tested positive for Covid-19 as reported in Friday’s figures, bringing the total there to 141.
Also, in Bath and North East Somerset, 156 people have so far tested positive.
The numbers do not represent the total number of people infected with coronavirus so far during the pandemic - that figure is estimated to be many times higher, because only the most serious cases were being tested.
This week, however, the programme of testing was widened to include some NHS workers - and more testing is being done, which could well explain the 77 new cases reported in one day.
Meanwhile, nationally, a further 847 deaths from coronavirus were reported by the Department of Health in the most recent 24 hour reporting period to Friday.
These were only deaths of people in hospital where they had tested positive for coronavirus, and does not include people who died in care homes, at home or who died without having been tested for the virus.
In the Bristol area, the number of people who have died at Southmead Hospital was most recently reported yesterday as 50, and 50 more people have died at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston trust too.
The Office for National Statistics publishes more comprehensive figures of coronavirus deaths, albeit with a two week timelag to gather the data - and those figures show that the Department of Health daily death toll is under-reporting the real number of Covid-19 deaths by around a third.
Only the USA is now reporting a higher daily death toll, and the total number of people who have died in hospital after a positive coronavirus test is now 14,576.
