THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 461 over the weekend, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 54,437 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on November 29 (Monday), up from 53,976 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 16,887 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 15,278.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 118,218 over the period, to 10,189,059.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Dudley.

The dashboard shows 867 people had died in the area by Monday November 29 – up from 865 on Friday.

It means there have been 10 deaths in the past week – an increase on eight the previous week.

They were among 15,134 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.

Data also shows three-quarters of people in Dudley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 217,266 people had received both jabs by Sunday November 28 – 76 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 80 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.