THE number of coronavirus cases in Shropshire increased by 261 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 31,929 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Shropshire when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on October 14 (Thursday), up from 31,668 on Wednesday.

The rate of infection in Shropshire now stands at 9,812 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 12,508.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 44,556 over the period, to 8,317,439.

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

The dashboard shows 599 people had died in the area by Thursday, October 14 – which was unchanged from Wednesday.

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

They were among 14,540 deaths recorded across the West Midlands.

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

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 four in five people in Shropshire have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 236,088 people had received both jabs by October 13 (Wednesday) – 80 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 78 per cent 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.