264 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Arun

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 Arun increased by 264 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 45,082 cases had been confirmed in Arun when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 24 (Thursday), up from 44,818 on Wednesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Arun, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 27,980 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 30,693.

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 97,819 over the last 24 hours, to 20,613,817.

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

The dashboard shows 403 people had died in the area by March 24 (Thursday) – up from 401 on Wednesday.

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

They were among 21,028 deaths recorded across the South East.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Arun.

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

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

The latest figures show 106,951 people had received a booster or third dose by March 23 (Wednesday) – 70% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 126,238 people (83%) 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.