139 further coronavirus cases and one more death recorded in Newcastle

The number of coronavirus cases in Newcastle increased by 139 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 39,240 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Newcastle when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 18 (Wednesday), up from 39,101 on Tuesday.

The rate of infection in Newcastle now stands at 12,789 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than the England average of 9,814.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 33,646 over the period, to 6,355,887.

There was also one more coronavirus death recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Newcastle.

The dashboard shows 463 people had died in the area by August 18 (Wednesday) – up from 462 on Tuesday.

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

They were among 6,249 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 Newcastle.

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

The figures also show that more than half of people in Newcastle have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 158,055 people had received both jabs by August 17 (Tuesday) – 58% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 77% of people aged 18 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.