158 further coronavirus cases and two more deaths recorded in Mid and East Antrim

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 Mid and East Antrim increased by 158 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 45,713 cases had been confirmed in Mid and East Antrim when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 29 (Tuesday), up from 45,555 on Monday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Mid and East Antrim, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 32,783 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the Northern Ireland average of 36,084.

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 80,656 over the period, to 20,986,171.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Mid and East Antrim.

The dashboard shows 290 people had died in the area by March 29 (Tuesday) – up from 288 on Monday.

It means there have been four deaths in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 3,315 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 Mid and East Antrim.

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