THE number of coronavirus cases in Northumberland increased by 571 over the weekend, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 47,571 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Northumberland when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on November 22 (Monday), up from 47,000 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Northumberland now stands at 14,691 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 14,828.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 123,773 over the period, to 9,889,926.

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

The dashboard shows 801 people had died in the area by November 22 (Monday) – up from 799 on Friday.

It means there have been six deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on eight the previous week.

They were among 6,947 deaths recorded across the North East.

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

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 that more than four in five people in Northumberland have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 242,609 people had received both jabs by November 21 (Sunday) – 82 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.