THE first person to die from coronavirus at the Royal United Hospital in Bath is a man in his 80s.

James Scott, chief executive of the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Sadly, we can confirm that a man who was being cared for at the Royal United Hospital, and had tested positive for COVID-19, has died.

“The patient, who died on Wednesday, was in his 80s and had underlying health conditions.

“His family have been informed and our thoughts and condolences are with them at this difficult and distressing time. Out of respect for their privacy we will not be commenting further.”

It is not known how many other patients with confirmed coronavirus are being treated at the RUH, which is still seeing emergency non-coronavirus patients in its A&E department.

At the Great Western Hospital in Swindon there have been three deaths.

The two latest deaths, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s, are both from Swindon and had underlying health conditions. They died this week.

One man in his 50s with underlying health conditions. died at Salisbury District General Hospital on Monday, March 16.

So far, there are 39 confirmed cases in Wiltshire, out of a local population of 498,064.

A total of 9,529 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK and 463 people who tested positive have died.

Of the total number of cases, 7,973 are in England, 719 in Scotland, 628 in Wales and 209 in Northern Ireland.

More than 87,400 people in the UK have been tested for the virus.