235 further coronavirus cases in Merton

The number of coronavirus cases in Merton increased by 235 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 21,360 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Merton when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 16 (Monday), up from 21,125 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Merton now stands at 10,346 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 9,724.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 83,745 over the period, to 6,295,613 – although the latest figure does not include the number of new cases in Wales due to a technical issue reported by Public Health Wales.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Merton.

The dashboard shows 408 people had died in the area by August 16 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there have been no deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 15,890 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.

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 in five people in Merton have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 121,758 people had received both jabs by August 15 (Sunday) – 59% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 76% 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.