One hundred coronavirus-related deaths have now been confirmed at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, but both hospitals are reportedly coping with the extra demand due to the pandemic.

As of 5pm on April 5, the trust joined 11 others at 100 coronavirus deaths, according to figures from NHS England.

A spokesperson for the trust commented: “Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of patients who have died. To stay safe, we are asking member of the public to follow the advice on the NHS website.”

But Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust were clear that despite the deaths, rumours of patients being turned away from Lewisham hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital were completely false.

"We’ve expanded our critical care capacity significantly at both hospitals.

"We are also working very closely with neighbouring hospitals, ensuring that our critical care beds are filled at the same rate, so that no one hospital becomes overwhelmed at any point.

"Thanks to all this work:

• We’ve not had to turn any COVID-19 patients away from our hospitals

• We’ve been able to offer critical care treatment to all patients who require it."

The number of both Covid-19 cases and deaths in the UK have been steadily rising over the last few weeks and London continues to be the epicentre of the outbreak.

As of Tuesday, there have been 55, 242 confirmed cases, over 13,000 in London, and 6,159 confirmed deaths.

Locally, Bromley has recorded 547 cases, Lewisham 516, Greenwich 337 and Bexley 274.

Meanwhile, testing for NHS staff has this week been set up in North Greenwich opposite the O2 Arena, and the lockdown continues indefinitely as the Prime Minister spends his second day in intensive care.

A charitable fund for staff at the two local hospitals has also been arranged, with the money donated paying for essential equipment, accommodation for NHS staff isolating from family and morale boosting items such as coffee machines.

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