223 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in St Helens
The number of coronavirus cases in St Helens increased by 223 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.
A total of 51,585 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in St Helens when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 21 (Friday), up from 51,362 on Thursday.
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Hide AdThe rate of infection in St Helens now stands at 28,485 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 23,592.
Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 95,776 over the period, to 15,709,059.
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.
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Hide AdThere were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in St Helens.
The dashboard shows 569 people had died in the area by January 21 (Friday) – up from 567 on Thursday.
It means there have been three deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on 15 the previous week.
They were among 21,635 deaths recorded across the North West.
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Hide AdThe figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in St Helens.
Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.
The figures also show that four in five people in St Helens have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The latest figures show 129,800 people had received both jabs by January 20 (Thursday) – 79% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.
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Hide AdAcross England, 83% 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.