Coronavirus: Nurse at Liverpool's Aintree Hospital dies

A "long-serving" nurse at a hospital in Liverpool has died after testing positive for Covid-19.

Aintree University Hospital staff nurse Liz Glanister, 68, died on Friday at Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Dianne Brown, chief nurse at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said with "great sadness" she could confirm Ms Glanister had died.

She said she would be "sadly missed by all those who knew and worked with her".

Ms Brown continued: "All our thoughts are with Liz's family at this time and we offer them our sincere condolences."

Estephanie Dunn, North West regional director of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Nurses like Liz are on the front line in this fight and when they succumb to Covid-19, it feels especially cruel."

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson also paid tribute to her "sacrifice".

"Words cannot express how much a debt of gratitude this city owes to Liz Glanister and her colleagues," he said.

He added she "dedicated her life to caring for others and in the true spirit of this city she gave everything she had to make a difference at such a crucial time".

Mr Anderson said flags at Liverpool town hall, St George's Hall and the Cunard Building would fly at half-mast in her honour and the buildings would be lit up blue "for the foreseeable future".

Wavertree MP Paula Barker also tweeted it was "sad news", while Riverside MP Kim Johnson tweeted her sympathies to Ms Glanister's family, adding that our "NHS heroes deserve better than this".

She said they "should have the peace of mind that when they are saving lives, that they are safe themselves" and called for speedier testing for frontline workers.

According to the Department of Health, the number of coronavirus-related hospital deaths was recorded as 4,934 as of 17:00 BST on Saturday.