331 further coronavirus cases and one more death recorded in Horsham

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 Horsham increased by 331 over the weekend which followed the end of free testing in England, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

The withdrawal of free tests for most people in the country on April 1 means the figures are not an accurate reflection of the number of people with Covid.

A total of 42,896 cases had been confirmed in Horsham when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on April 4 (Monday), up from 42,565 on Friday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Horsham, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 29,487 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 31,806.

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 142,807 over the last 24 hours, to 21,359,681.

England’s change in testing requirements means the reported number of coronavirus cases in the UK is also likely to be an underestimate.

There was also one more coronavirus death recorded over the weekend in Horsham.

The dashboard shows 256 people had died in the area by April 4 (Monday) – up from 255 on Friday.

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

They were among 21,199 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 Horsham.

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

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 three-quarters of people in Horsham have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 100,590 people had received a booster or third dose by April 3 (Sunday) – 74% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 116,640 people (86%) 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.