Six more people have died in North East hospitals after contracting coronavirus.
A total of 146 deaths were reported by NHS England on Saturday afternoon, taking the total number of Covid-19-related fatalities in England hospitals to 26,529.
Of these, 20 occurred on May 29, 51 were confirmed on May 28 and 14 were reported on May 27.
The figures also show 48 of the new deaths took place between May 1 and May 26, and the remaining 13 occurred in April with the earliest on April 3.
In the North East, North Tees and Hartlepool reported the most with three.
North East deaths by NHS trust
County Durham and Darlington - 1
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear - 0
Gateshead - 0
Northumbria - 0
South Tyneside and Sunderland - 0
Newcastle - 0
North Tees and Hartlepool - 3
South Tees - 2
Tees Esk and Wear Valleys - 0
The new figures came as the Government faced criticism from scientific advisers over its decision to ease some of the UK's lockdown measures on Monday.
Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), voiced concern about the lifting of the Covid-19 lockdown measures due to the R number (the rate of infection) being only just below one.
