THE number of coronavirus cases in South Somerset increased by 228 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 29,468 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Somerset when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 21 (Friday), up from 29,240 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in South Somerset now stands at 17,468 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 23,592.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 95,776 over the period, to 15,709,059.

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 currently only include LFT results for England and Northern Ireland, with lateral flow testing data for Scotland due to be added in the coming weeks.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in South Somerset.

The dashboard shows 218 people had died in the area by January 21 (Friday) – up from 216 on Thursday.

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

They were among 8,565 deaths recorded across the South West.

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

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

The figures also show that more than four in five people in South Somerset have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 132,735 people had received both jabs by January 20 (Thursday) – 83% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83% 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.