532 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Antrim and Newtownabbey

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 Antrim and Newtownabbey increased by 532 over the weekend, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 49,985 cases had been confirmed in Antrim and Newtownabbey when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 14 (Monday), up from 49,453 on Friday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Antrim and Newtownabbey, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 34,771 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the Northern Ireland average of 34,534.

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 170,467 over the period, to 19,700,952 – though figures for Scotland were not included due to a technical issue.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Antrim and Newtownabbey.

The dashboard shows 292 people had died in the area by March 14 (Monday) – up from 290 on Friday.

It means there have been three deaths in the past week, which is an increase on one the previous week.

They were among 3,253 deaths recorded across Northern Ireland.

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

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

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.