The number of confirmed cases of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wiltshire has increased by 54 since last week.

Public Health England figures show that 465 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday, May 5 in Wiltshire, up from 403 a week prior.

These cases were among 6,657 confirmed cases recorded across the South West, a figure which has risen by 671 since Tuesday, April 30.

The South West remains the region in the UK with the lowest number of recorded cases of Covid-19.

A total of 56 people have died from coronavirus at the Royal United Hospitals (RUH) Bath NHS Foundation Trust, with one death recorded at Chippenham Community Hospital and two deaths at Warminster Community Hospital. All confirmed as of 5pm Monday, May 4.

Tracey Cox, chief executive, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We have been fortunate in that our three hospitals have risen to the challenge of safely managing the recent increase in coronavirus-related demand, and in that the overall prevalence of this virus in our region has been less than elsewhere.

“However, these small silver linings cannot be reasons for us to become complacent and, speaking on behalf of my NHS colleagues, I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for everyone to do their bit by staying at home and following the current social distancing rules for as long as they remain in place.

“We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time, and although we are now cautiously exploring how we can begin to restart the many local services that have been put on pause, it would be a huge mistake at this pivotal point to take our foot off the gas and undo the progress we have all contributed towards.”

This comes as research teams at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) are taking part in vital national and international studies into coronavirus and looking at possible treatments.

The trust took up Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty’s call for urgent collaboration into investigating the disease.

Dr Kelly Spencer, RUH research manager, operations, said: “We’re really proud to be a research-active hospital and proud to be participating in these research studies.

“It’s essential that we learn as much as we can, as soon as we can. There has been a great effort to accelerate the set-up of these trials, working with the clinicians, pharmacy and other support departments and we thank them for their cooperation in these busy times.

“We’re looking at treatments that are already in use for other conditions, like anti-viral drugs or drugs that help the immune system to better fight disease, to see if any of these are effective against coronavirus.

“We’re not expecting to find a cure, but we do hope that these treatments may help patients to recover more quickly from coronavirus or reduce their stay in hospital.”