195 further coronavirus cases in Wirral

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 Wirral increased by 195 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 97,681 cases had been confirmed in Wirral when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 3 (Thursday), up from 97,486 on Wednesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Wirral, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 30,117 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 28,560.

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 45,375 over the period, to 19,074,696.

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

The dashboard shows 990 people had died in the area by March 3 (Thursday) – down from 991 on Wednesday.

It means the total number of deaths in the past week has been revised down by one.

They were among 22,824 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 Wirral.

The UKHSA cautioned that today's Covid-19 death figures in England include some not reported yesterday, due to a technical issue.

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 Wirral have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 186,273 people had received a booster or third dose by March 2 (Wednesday) – 63% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 234,897 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.