You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A public health professor believes a surge in coronavirus deaths in Liverpool could be in some part linked to a controversial football match last month.

Today the Royal Liverpool NHS hospital trust reported a further 21 deaths in the city from people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

Before today there had been just one recorded death in the city.

The dates provided from NHS England show that those who have sadly died after testing positive for coronavirus did so between March 19 and April 1.

Four of those who lost their lives in Liverpool did so yesterday.

Professor John Ashton, from Liverpool, is a former regional director of public health and has been heavily critical of the government's approach to tackling the coronavirus epidemic - and the failure to lock down the country earlier.

And he has pointed to a Champions League match between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool on March 11 as one potential contributory factor to Liverpool's surge in deaths.

Professor Ashton was one of a number of voices questioning the decision to allow 3,000 Madrid fans to travel to Liverpool in March - when an acute outbreak of Covid-19 in Madrid was taking place at the time meaning Atletico's own home matches were being played behind closed doors.

And the public health expert says the timing of the new deaths mean there could well be a link.

He said: "It is difficult to pin it down without detailed dates.

"We need to know whether any of these people went to that match or whether they had close friends or relatives did.

"But what we can say is that the timeline does fit.

(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

"It is generally the case that people start showing symptoms one week after infection, and those who become very poorly do so a week later.

"Sadly three weeks after some people are dying - so some of these deaths certainly fits the timeline from the match."

As Professor Ashton says, it cannot be confirmed whether the match going ahead as normal has contributed to deaths in the city, but there was widespread concern at the time.

Political figures in the city including Mayor Joe Anderson and local MPs Ian Byrne, Dan Carden and Maria Eagle all questioned if it was safe to encourage the Madrid fans to travel to Liverpool, mingle in the city and attend a packed Anfield.

Ms Eagle raised the issue in Parliament, but there was no suggestion from government that it should not have gone ahead as normal.

And those fears have been continually expressed around the city in recent days, with Liverpool's official coronavirus case data rising sharply.