40 further coronavirus cases in Mid Ulster

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 Ulster increased by 40 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 55,568 cases had been confirmed in Mid Ulster when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on April 8 (Friday), up from 55,528 on Thursday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Mid Ulster, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 37,306 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the Northern Ireland average of 36,687.

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.

The end of free tests in England means the reported number of coronavirus cases in the UK is likely to be an underestimate. However, the Office for National Statistics estimates that 4.1 million people had Covid-19 in the week ending April 2.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Mid Ulster.

The dashboard shows 312 people had died in the area by April 8 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is a decrease on two the previous week.

They were among 3,358 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 Ulster.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.