SOUTH Essex hospitals have recorded no new deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

Figures from NHS England show that the total number of deaths at Basildon Hospital is 259, and 179 in Southend Hospital.

This is in addition to the 16 deaths confirmed at the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in Runwell.

This totals 454 deaths, the same total reported yesterday.

Across England, a further 207 people died from the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total recorded in England hospitals to 24,159.

In the Southend borough, 345 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, with another 2,945 cases recorded by Essex County Council.

Meanwhile, England’s England’s deputy chief medical officer has said frontline workers, including those in the NHS, will be the first to get a new antibody test for Covid-19.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it was clear that people who had Covid-19 generated an antibody response, but it would “take time” to understand whether in all cases people developed immunity against coronavirus.

He said data needed to be gathered over time to understand whether any immune response offered life-long protection or just for a few years.

Public Health England (PHE) has approved a new test from the pharmaceutical giant Roche after experts at its Porton Down facility gave it the green light.

The test - which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously called a “game-changer” - picks up 100 per cent of cases where somebody has had coronavirus in the past, and can be used on people who experienced no symptoms.

Prof Van-Tam said the test would be “incredibly important” in the weeks and months ahead, telling the Number 10 press briefing: “I anticipate that it will be rapidly rolled out in the days and weeks to come - as soon as it is practical.

“I also anticipate that the focus will be on the national health service and on carers in the first instance.”

Experts believe those who have had Covid-19 develop a degree of immunity, meaning the test could prove a useful tool for helping to ease lockdown restrictions.

Number 10 said the new antibody test would “certainly” be available on the NHS, but commercial discussions with Roche are ongoing.

The PM’s official spokesman said the idea of an “immunity certificate” was also still under consideration if science showed that people developed immunity to Covid-19.

Professor John Newton, national coordinator of the UK Coronavirus Testing Programme, said although it was still unclear to what extent the presence of antibodies indicated immunity, the test was a “very positive development”.

and the test was a “very reliable marker of past infection”.