183 further coronavirus cases in Liverpool

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 Liverpool increased by 183 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 157,143 cases had been confirmed in Liverpool when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 1 (Tuesday), up from 156,960 on Monday.

The cumulativerate of infection in Liverpool, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 31,399 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 28,445.

A change on January 31 meant that in England 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.

As of March 1, reinfections are also included for Scotland.

The change has resulted in a significant rise in the number of cases recorded nationally.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 98,867 over the period, to 18,985,568.

The number of coronavirus deaths were revised down in the latest 24-hour period in Liverpool.

The dashboard shows 1,531 people had died in the area by March 1 (Tuesday) – down from 1,532 on Monday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is a decrease on 11 the previous week.

They were among 22,798 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 Liverpool.

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 half of people in Liverpool have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 226,669 people had received a booster or third dose by February 28 (Monday) – 47% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 318,205 people (66%) 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.