1,658 further coronavirus cases and five more deaths recorded in Birmingham

The number of coronavirus cases in Birmingham increased by 1,658 over the weekend, official figures show – and five more deaths were recorded.

A total of 190,580 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Birmingham when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on December 6 (Monday), up from 188,922 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Birmingham now stands at 16,710 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 15,772.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 135,592 over the period, to 10,515,239.

There were also five more coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Birmingham.

The dashboard shows 3,068 people had died in the area by December 6 (Monday) – up from 3,063 on Friday.

It means there have been 15 deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on 18 the previous week.

They were among 15,207 deaths recorded across the West Midlands.

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

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.

The figures also show that more than half of people in Birmingham have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 634,140 people had received both jabs by December 5 (Sunday) – 58% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 81% of people aged 12 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

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