THE number of coronavirus cases in Oldham increased by 123 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 74,740 cases had been confirmed in Oldham when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated today, Tuesday, up from 74,617 on Monday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Oldham, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 31,453 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 29,547.

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 119,229 over the last 24 hours, to 19,820,181.

This figure includes cases not reported by Public Health Scotland yesterday due to a technical issue.

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

The dashboard shows 814 people had died in the area by March 15 – up from 812 on Monday.

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

They were among 22,950 deaths recorded across the North West.

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

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

The figures also show that half of people in Oldham have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 108,087 people had received a booster or third dose by March 14 (Monday) – 50 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 154,856 people (72 per cent) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 66 per cent of people aged 12 and above had received a booster.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.