THE number of coronavirus cases in Shropshire increased by 205 in the 24 hours up to Wednesday, official figures show.

A total of 78,172 cases were confirmed in Shropshire when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Wednesday, February 23, up from 77,967 on Tuesday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Shropshire, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 24,022 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 28,201.

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 39,235 over the period, to 18,734,683.

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

The dashboard shows 722 people had died in the area by Wednesday, February 23 – which was unchanged from Tuesday.

It means there have been three deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 16,705 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 nearly three-quarters of people in Shropshire have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 210,936 people had received a booster or third dose by February 22 (Tuesday) – 72 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 251,709 people (86 per cent) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 66 per cent 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.