THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 2,298 over the weekend, official figures show – and four more deaths were recorded.

A total of 75,063 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Monday January 10, up from 72,765 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 23,285 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 21,875.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 424,086 over the period, to 14,617,314.

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

The dashboard shows 892 people had died in the area by Monday January 10 – up from 888 on Friday.

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

They were among 15,616 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.

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

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.

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

The latest figures show 222,705 people had received both jabs by Sunday January 9 – 78 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83 per cent of people aged 12 and above had received a second dose of the jab.