205 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Solihull

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 Solihull increased by 205 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 66,932 cases had been confirmed in Solihull when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 18 (Friday), up from 66,727 on Thursday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Solihull, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 30,775 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 29,936.

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 92,135 over the period, to 20,093,762 – though case figures reported in Scotland cover a period of more than 24 hours.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Solihull.

The dashboard shows 660 people had died in the area by March 18 (Friday) – up from 658 on Thursday.

It means there have been four deaths in the past week, which is an increase on three the previous week.

They were among 16,948 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 Solihull.

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

The figures also show that nearly two-thirds of people in Solihull have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 128,538 people had received a booster or third dose by March 17 (Thursday) – 65% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 159,025 people (81%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 66% 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.