451 further coronavirus cases and three more deaths recorded in Sandwell

The number of coronavirus cases in Sandwell increased by 451 over the weekend, official figures show – and three more deaths were recorded.

A total of 43,992 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Sandwell when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 16 (Monday), up from 43,541 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Sandwell now stands at 13,370 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 9,724.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 83,745 over the period, to 6,295,613 – although the latest figure does not include the number of new cases in Wales due to a technical issue reported by Public Health Wales.

There were also three more coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Sandwell.

The dashboard shows 1,027 people had died in the area by August 16 (Monday) – up from 1,024 on Friday.

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

They were among 13,819 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.

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

The latest figures show 170,896 people had received both jabs by August 15 (Sunday) – 61% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 76% of people aged 18 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.