146 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Rochdale

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 Rochdale increased by 146 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 74,603 cases had been confirmed in Rochdale when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 31 (Thursday), up from 74,457 on Wednesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Rochdale, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 33,356 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 31,485.

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 74,416 over the period, to 21,147,425.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Rochdale.

The dashboard shows 829 people had died in the area by March 31 (Thursday) – up from 827 on Wednesday.

It means there have been three deaths in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 23,160 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 Rochdale.

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

The figures also show that more than half of people in Rochdale have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 105,366 people had received a booster or third dose by March 30 (Wednesday) – 52% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 148,940 people (73%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 67% 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.