100 further coronavirus cases in Newry, Mourne and Down

The number of coronavirus cases in Newry, Mourne and Down increased by 100 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 66,196 cases had been confirmed in Newry, Mourne and Down when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on April 1 (Friday), up from 66,096 on Thursday.

Free testing will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

But from April, it has ended for millions of people in England with most people now needing to shop on the high street for paid-for tests if they want them.

The cumulative rate of infection in Newry, Mourne and Down, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 36,438 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the Northern Ireland average of 36,300.

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 69,449 over the period, to 21,216,874.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Newry, Mourne and Down.

The dashboard shows 255 people had died in the area by April 1 (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 3,329 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 Newry, Mourne and Down.

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.