306 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 306 over the weekend, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 45,555 cases had been confirmed in Mid and East Antrim when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on March 28 (Monday), up from 45,249 on Friday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Mid and East Antrim, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 32,669 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the Northern Ireland average of 35,992.

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 214,392 over the period, to 20,905,515.

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

The dashboard shows 288 people had died in the area by March 28 (Monday) – up from 286 on Friday.

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

They were among 3,306 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.

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