The number of people hospitalised with coronavirus in City and Hackney has nearly doubled in three days.

The latest figures from Public Health England from 9am Thursday morning show that 119 people have now been confirmed to have the illness in the two districts which share a health authority, compared with 64 cases on Monday morning.

That figure had doubled since three days before that on Friday, when it stood at 29.

Some 578 people have died of the contagious disease in the UK.

The 2,129 new cases confirmed in the UK on Thursday was biggest increase yet, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,658.

But the amount of people who have caught the virus is likely to be much higher, as tests are only being carried out on patients in hospital.

There are 96 confirmed cases in Islington, 91 in Haringey and 85 in Camden.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a scheme yesterday to give self-employed people a grant based on their earnings over the passed three years, worth up to 80pc of earnings but capped at £2,500 a month. But this won’t come into affect until June.

Click here to join the discussion in our coronavirus Facebook group.

Click here for a directory of agencies that are helping people during the pandemic.