486 further coronavirus cases in North Somerset

A Coronavirus testing centre in Dalston, east London. There were a further 6,042 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Saturday, taking the overall number to 429,277. A further 34 deaths were recorded.

The number of coronavirus cases in North Somerset increased by 486 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 63,005 cases had been confirmed in North Somerset when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 24 (Thursday), up from 62,519 on Wednesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in North Somerset, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 29,227 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 30,693.

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 97,819 over the last 24 hours, to 20,613,817.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in North Somerset.

The dashboard shows 421 people had died in the area by March 24 (Thursday) – which was unchanged from Wednesday.

It means there have been four deaths in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 9,383 deaths recorded across the South West.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in North Somerset.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

The figures also show that nearly three-quarters of people in North Somerset have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 143,971 people had received a booster or third dose by March 23 (Wednesday) – 72% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 169,410 people (85%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 67% of people aged 12 and above had received a booster.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.