78 further coronavirus cases and one more death recorded in Boston

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 Boston increased by 78 over the weekend, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 18,098 cases had been confirmed in Boston when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on February 28 (Monday), up from 18,020 on Friday.

The cumulativerate of infection in Boston, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 25,549 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 28,398.

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 81,936 over the period, to 18,886,701.

People with a positive lateral flow test no longer need to take a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they have coronavirus symptoms.

UK case numbers now include LFT results for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There was also one more coronavirus death recorded over the weekend in Boston.

The dashboard shows 220 people had died in the area by February 28 (Monday) – up from 219 on Friday.

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

They were among 12,849 deaths recorded across the East Midlands.

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

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.

The figures also show that half of people in Boston have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 36,670 people had received a booster or third dose by February 27 (Sunday) – 51% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 47,354 people (66%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 66% of people aged 12 and above had received a booster.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.