The latest figures for positive coronavirus test results in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been recorded and they show 56 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

It means that as of 4.30pm today (Saturday) there have now been a total of 2,048 positive test results recorded in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly since the start of the pandemic.

There have been 184 new cases recorded in the last seven days, representing a rate of 32.2 cases per 100,000 people.

Nationally, there have been 23,012 new cases recorded in the UK during the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 854,010 since the start of the pandemic.

The most recent figures from the Office National Statistics, which update every Tuesday, showed the one new death relating to coronavirus in Cornwall was registered in the preceding week.

The statistics from the ONS, which has been collating data for deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community, relate to the week of October 3 to October 9, but were registered up to October 17.

The death, which was of a Cornish person in hospital, was the first in Cornwall to be registered for seven weeks.

The county’s first hospital death since September 22 was reported on Saturday, October 10.

It took the total number of hospital deaths in Cornwall up to 94, with 68 of them recorded at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and 26 at the Cornwall Partnerships NHS Trust.

There have been no further deaths in Cornwall in the last 24 hours, but nationally a further 185 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 31,743.

Patients were aged between 32 and 98 years old. All except seven - aged between 66 and 90 - had known underlying health conditions. Their families have been informed.

NHS England said the dates of the deaths range from April 6 to to October 23, with the majority being on or after October 20.

There have been five deaths recorded in the south west in the past 24 hours.

In today’s coronavirus-related news:

Coronavirus has been linked to the deaths of at least 70 people in Cornwall care homes since the start of the crisis, new figures reveal.

However, the majority of these occurred earlier in the pandemic.

Read the full story here.

One of the south west's biggest theatres has been given a bailout of almost £2 million as part of the biggest government grants to date.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Arts Council England has today announced that 35 of the country’s major arts and cultural organisations – two thirds of which are outside of London – are receiving grants of between £1 and £3 million from the government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help cope with the effects of ongoing closures due to coronavirus.

Read the full story here.