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A new coronavirus case has been confirmed in Hull and the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the East Riding has doubled.

Nine people in the East Riding of Yorkshire have contracted the virus and another patient has tested positive in Hull, following the latest round of figures released on Tuesday evening.

The first person who tested positive for Covid-19 in Hull earlier this month has recovered and now a further case has been confirmed within the city.

Following the first positive test on March 3, several days went by without new cases being recorded in the area, however, numbers are beginning to rise.

The latest figures were released a short time after the Prime Minister held his first of a new series of daily news conferences on the pandemic which has now claimed the lives of 71 people in the UK, with 1,950 now known to have contracted the virus.

(Image: Getty Images)

During a press conference on Tuesday evening, economic measures were outlined as to how to keep businesses running during the pandemic, including a fund of £330bn in loan guarantees.

Boris Johnson said the UK has just weeks to build thousands of ventilators to help coronavirus-hit hospitals as there are 6,699 adult mechanical ventilators in the NHS - and the race is on to create more as demand is expected to surge in the coming weeks.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that scientists were working towards finding a vaccine.

He said: “Just to be clear, what suppression in that paper refers to is exactly what we’ve been talking about, which is squashing this right down and making sure that we give room for the NHS to cope, and that’s what the message is.

“In terms of the time frame, this needs to be done in a way that we can look at releasing it at some point and seeing what the effect is.

“None of us, anywhere in the world, know how to do that yet in terms of whether it bounces back or not at that point. So, that is what’s going to have to happen after we’ve got this under control is to look at how you then release these measures at the right time to monitor the effects.

“In terms of vaccines, and vaccines are the answer to this, it’s remarkable the progress that has been made.

“It’s only probably three or four years ago when the standard answer would be it takes 20 years to make a vaccine, it is now the case that there’s a vaccine in the UK that may go into the clinic for first testing in April.

“I still believe we will be lucky to get a vaccine for mass use in a year from the start of this, that would be extraordinary, but there is progress.

It comes after the announcement on Monday when Boris Johnson described how pregnant women had been added into the most at risk group and had been told to self-isolate for 12 weeks, along with over-70s and people with underlying health issues.

The government's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the new guidance was “absolutely critical”.

The nation was also asked to avoid areas where close contact with others is likely including in pubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres.

Anyone who lives with someone who has a cough or a temperature has also been told they should stay at home for 14 days and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s science chief, explained how "home working is recommended".