13:18

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in prisons continues to rise.

As MPs heard that more than 4,000 prisoners aged over-50 were in shared cells, Ministry of Justice figures revealed that 287 prisoners had tested positive for the coronavirus across 65 prisons by 5pm on Monday, up 3% in 24 hours.

There are about 81,500 prisoners in England and Wales across 117 prisons. At least 15 prisoners are known to have died from the virus. The number of infected prison staff rose 10% in the same period to 217 across 54 prisons.

The Prison Service is to temporarily release up to 4,000 inmates who are within two months of their release date, as well as building 500 extra cells within the prison estate to increase single-cell occupancy.

However, there have been warnings that 15,000 would need to be released to achieve single-cell occupancy across the estate.

Earlier on Tuesday, the justice committee heard that prisoners aged over 50 were particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. There are currently about 13,700 prisoners aged 50 and over in England and Wales.

Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons, told a remote session of the justice committee: