459 further coronavirus cases and one more death recorded in St Helens

The number of coronavirus cases in St Helens increased by 459 over the weekend, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 60,790 cases had been confirmed in St Helens when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 14 (Monday), up from 60,331 on Friday.

The cumulative rate of infection in St Helens, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 33,568 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 29,434.

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 170,467 over the period, to 19,700,952 – though figures for Scotland were not included due to a technical issue.

There was also one more coronavirus death recorded over the weekend in St Helens.

The dashboard shows 605 people had died in the area by March 14 (Monday) – up from 604 on Friday.

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

They were among 22,933 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 St Helens.

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 nearly two-thirds of people in St Helens have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 103,766 people had received a booster or third dose by March 13 (Sunday) – 63% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 132,677 people (80%) 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.