THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 564 over the bank holiday weekend, official figures show.

A total of 37,725 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated yesterday (Tuesday August 31), up from 37,161 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 11,703 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 10,398.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 123,182 over the period, to 6,789,581.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the bank holiday weekend in Dudley.

The dashboard shows 802 people had died in the area by August 31 (Tuesday) – unchanged from Friday.

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

They were among 13,992 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 Dudley.

The figures also show that three-quarters of people in Dudley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 201,500 people had received both jabs by August 30 (Monday) – 76% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 78% 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.