THE number of coronavirus cases in South Lakeland increased by 46 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 8,108 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Lakeland when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated today, up from 8,062 yesterday.

The rate of infection in South Lakeland now stands at 7,729 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 11,030.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 26,251 over the period, to 7,282,810.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in South Lakeland.

The dashboard shows 226 people had died in the area when figures were updated today - unchanged from yesterday.

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

They were among 19,049 deaths recorded across the North West.

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

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.

The figures also show that more than four in five people in South Lakeland have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 78,001 people had received both jabs by Monday - 83 per cent of those aged 16 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 81 per cent of people aged 16 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

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