154 further coronavirus cases and one more death recorded in South Kesteven

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 South Kesteven increased by 154 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 42,928 cases had been confirmed in South Kesteven when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on April 1 (Friday), up from 42,774 on Thursday.

From April 1, free coronavirus testing 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.

However, it will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

The cumulative rate of infection in South Kesteven, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 29,972 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 31,591.

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 was also one more coronavirus death recorded in the latest 24-hour period in South Kesteven.

The dashboard shows 332 people had died in the area by April 1 (Friday) – up from 331 on Thursday.

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

They were among 13,149 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 South Kesteven.

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

The figures also show that three-quarters of people in South Kesteven have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 94,927 people had received a booster or third dose by March 31 (Thursday) – 73% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 112,179 people (87%) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 67% 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.