246 further coronavirus cases 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 246 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 72,163 cases had been confirmed in Rochdale when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 14 (Monday), up from 71,917 on Friday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Rochdale, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 32,265 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 were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Rochdale.

The dashboard shows 826 people had died in the area by March 14 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is a decrease on two 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 Rochdale.

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.

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 half of people in Rochdale have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 104,422 people had received a booster or third dose by March 13 (Sunday) – 51% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 148,181 people (73%) 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.