176 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Tower Hamlets

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 Tower Hamlets increased by 176 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 96,644 cases had been confirmed in Tower Hamlets when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 8 (Tuesday), up from 96,468 on Monday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Tower Hamlets, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 29,112 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 28,863.

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 61,713 over the period, to 19,307,014.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Tower Hamlets.

The dashboard shows 475 people had died in the area by March 8 (Tuesday) – up from 473 on Monday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 19,014 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 Tower Hamlets.

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

The figures also show that two in five people in Tower Hamlets have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 134,604 people had received a booster or third dose by March 7 (Monday) – 39% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 212,516 people (61%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 66% 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.