197 further coronavirus cases in Merton

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 Merton increased by 197 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 68,276 cases had been confirmed in Merton when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 25 (Friday), up from 68,079 on Thursday.

The cumulativerate of infection in Merton, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 33,071 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 30,804.

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 77,306 over the period, to 20,691,123.

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 now include LFT results for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Merton.

The dashboard shows 479 people had died in the area by March 25 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is a decrease on two the previous week.

They were among 19,120 deaths recorded across London.

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

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 half of people in Merton have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 111,797 people had received a booster or third dose by March 24 (Thursday) – 50% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 150,522 people (68%) 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.