Lord Sugar has revealed that his sister has died and has cited coronavirus as the cause.

The sad news comes just a fortnight after the billionaire businessman lost his brother Derek to the disease, which has now killed in excess of 71,000 people in the UK alone.

In a post on social media early on Wednesday, the 73-year-old announced that his eldest sister Shirley, 88, had also succumbed to COVID-19.

"My eldest sister Shirley passed away today at the age of 88," he wrote. "She had been sick for a while but I guess covid got her in the end to join our brother Derek who passed 2 weeks ago.

"RIP SHIRL."

For the last few months Sugar has been based in Australia, where he recently filmed a local version of The Celebrity Apprentice.