169 further coronavirus cases in Sandwell

The number of coronavirus cases in Sandwell increased by 169 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 47,960 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Sandwell when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on September 10 (Friday), up from 47,791 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Sandwell now stands at 14,576 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 10,884.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 36,734 over the period, to 7,168,806.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Sandwell.

The dashboard shows 1,057 people had died in the area by September 10 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

It means there have been eight deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on 11 the previous week.

They were among 14,152 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 Sandwell.

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 two-thirds of people in Sandwell have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 186,485 people had received both jabs by September 9 (Thursday) – 65% of those aged 16 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 80% of people aged 16 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.