281 further coronavirus cases and three more deaths recorded 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 281 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and three more deaths were recorded.

A total of 98,989 cases had been confirmed in Wirral when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 9 (Wednesday), up from 98,708 on Tuesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Wirral, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 30,521 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 28,953.

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 66,870 over the period, to 19,373,884.

There were also three more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Wirral.

The dashboard shows 997 people had died in the area by March 9 (Wednesday) – up from 994 on Tuesday.

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

They were among 22,891 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.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

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 186,692 people had received a booster or third dose by March 8 (Tuesday) – 64% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 235,101 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.