The number of coronavirus cases in Barrow increased by 159 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 17,653 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Barrow when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 12 (Wednesday), up from 17,494 on Tuesday.

The rate of infection in Barrow now stands at 26,456 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 22,256.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 129,544 over the period, to 14,862,138.

There was also one more coronavirus death recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Barrow.

The dashboard shows 194 people had died in the area by January 12 (Wednesday) – up from 193 on Tuesday.

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

They were among 21,248 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 Barrow.

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

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

The latest figures show 49,167 people had received both jabs by January 11 (Tuesday) – 80% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83% of people aged 12 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.