48 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Tameside

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 Tameside increased by 48 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 73,195 cases had been confirmed in Tameside when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 1 (Tuesday), up from 73,147 on Monday.

The cumulativerate of infection in Tameside, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 32,228 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 28,445.

A change on January 31 meant that in England 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.

As of March 1, reinfections are also included for Scotland.

The change has resulted in a significant rise in the number of cases recorded nationally.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 98,867 over the period, to 18,985,568.

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

The dashboard shows 833 people had died in the area by March 1 (Tuesday) – up from 831 on Monday.

It means there have been two deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 22,798 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 Tameside.

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

The latest figures show 118,759 people had received a booster or third dose by February 28 (Monday) – 57% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 160,332 people (77%) 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.