86 further coronavirus cases in St Helens

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 St Helens increased by 86 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 59,367 cases had been confirmed in St Helens when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 2 (Wednesday), up from 59,281 on Tuesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in St Helens, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 32,782 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 28,502.

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 43,753 over the period, to 19,029,321.

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

The dashboard shows 597 people had died in the area by March 2 (Wednesday) – down from 598 on Tuesday.

It means there have been no deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on three the previous week.

They were among 22,803 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.

However, the UKHSA said an a technical issue means that the number of Covid-19 deaths in England may be lower than otherwise expected.

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

The latest figures show 103,271 people had received a booster or third dose by March 1 (Tuesday) – 63% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 132,300 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.