THE number of coronavirus cases in Test Valley increased by 383 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 31,590 cases had been confirmed in Test Valley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Monday (February 7), up from 31,207 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Test Valley now stands at 24,842 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 27,111.

Since January 31, the UK Health Security Agency has changed the way it reports coronavirus cases.

It means if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded.

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Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 176,747 over the period, to 17,866,632.

People with a positive lateral flow test no longer need to take a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they have coronavirus symptoms.

UK case numbers currently only include LFT results for England and Northern Ireland, with lateral flow testing data for Scotland due to be added in the coming weeks.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Test Valley.

The dashboard shows 221 people had died in the area by Monday – which was unchanged from Friday.

They were among 20,176 deaths recorded across the South East.

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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.

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 nearly nine in 10 people in Test Valley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 100,659 people had received both jabs by February 6 (Sunday) – 86 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 84 per cent of people aged 12 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.

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