A man in his 60s, who had underlying health problems, has died at North Manchester General Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus having recently returned from Italy, NHS England said.

The man is the third patient to die after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK.

A spokesman for North Manchester General Hospital, in Crumpsall, said: "We can confirm that sadly a patient being treated for Covid-19 has died at our specialist regional Infectious Diseases unit at North Manchester General Hospital.

"The man in his sixties tested positive after travelling to Italy and had a number of underlying health problems. Our thoughts are with the patient's family who are being supported by our specialist bereavement staff."

England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: "I am very sorry to report that a third patient in England who tested positive for Covid-19 has sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their privacy is respected.

"The patient, who was being treated at the North Manchester General Hospital, was over 60 years old and had significant underlying health conditions.

"They had recently travelled from an affected area. Contact tracing is already under way."

Two linked cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Chorley.

Lancashire County Council said the two people had recently travelled to Italy and were isolating themselves at home.

It brings the county's total number of confirmed cases to four, following the confirmation of two cases in South Ribble on Wednesday.

Lancashire County Council's director of public health and wellbeing, Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, said: "The two people with coronavirus are being well looked after and are isolating themselves at home.

"Their close contacts are being followed up by Public Health England.

"I would stress that if you have not been contacted by Public Health England, you do not need to do anything beyond following the general advice given to the public."

He added: "I'd like to reassure people that we are working with colleagues in the NHS and Public Health England to do everything we can to stop the virus spreading and ensure the people of Lancashire are protected."

A second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Bolton.

The case is among those announced in the daily updated figures from the Department of Health.

Dr Helen Lowey, Director of Public Health at Bolton Council, said: "We have received confirmation of one new Covid-19 case in the borough.

"We understand that the announcement of additional cases may cause concern but we want to reassure residents that we are continuing to work closely with Public Health England, the NHS and all our health and care partners to prevent further spread of the virus.

"We continue to stress the importance of regular hand washing to residents."