THE number of coronavirus cases in Test Valley increased by 48 in the last 24 hour recorded period, official figures show.

A total of 7,649 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Test Valley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on July 29 (Thursday), up from 7,601 on Wednesday.

The rate of infection in Test Valley now stands at 6,063 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 8,998.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 30,633 over the period, to 5,801,561.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Test Valley.

The dashboard shows 198 people had died in the area by July 29 (Thursday) – which was unchanged from Wednesday.

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

They were among 17,424 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 Test Valley.

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.

The figures also show that three-quarters of people in Test Valley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 80,470 people had received both jabs by July 28 (Wednesday) – 73 per cent of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 71 per cent of people aged 18 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.