A PATIENT has died at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester after testing positive for coronavirus.

The patient, a 79-year-old man, died after being admitted to the hospital with underlying health conditions. His death is understood to be the first linked to the virus at the hospital.

It comes as an 83-year-old woman, who also had underlying health conditions, died at the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals in Winchester and Basingstoke, said: "Sadly, we can confirm that two patients – a man and a woman - who were being cared for by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and had tested positive for COVID-19, have died.

"The patients were aged 79 and 83 respectively and both had underlying health conditions. Both families have been informed and our thoughts and condolences are with them at this difficult and distressing time."

Yesterday two further patients died at the Basingstoke hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. Both patients, an 74-year-old man and an 89-year-old woman, were being cared for at the hospital.

It comes as the number of people who have died having tested positive has increased to 422 from 335 reported by the Department of Health and Social Care on Monday.