192 further coronavirus cases in Knowsley

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 Knowsley increased by 192 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 57,933 cases had been confirmed in Knowsley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on April 1 (Friday), up from 57,741 on Thursday.

From April 1, free coronavirus testing has ended for millions of people in England with most people now needing to shop on the high street for paid-for tests if they want them.

However, it will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

The cumulative rate of infection in Knowsley, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 38,001 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 31,591.

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 69,449 over the period, to 21,216,874.

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

The dashboard shows 528 people had died in the area by April 1 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

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

They were among 23,177 deaths recorded across the North West.

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

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 more than half of people in Knowsley have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 75,409 people had received a booster or third dose by March 31 (Thursday) – 53% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 103,011 people (72%) 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.