698 further coronavirus cases in Mid Sussex, official figures show

A total of 23,971 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Mid Sussex when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on December 20 (Monday), up from 23,273 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Mid Sussex now stands at 15,756 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 17,208.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 262,767 over the period, to 11,453,121.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Mid Sussex.

The dashboard shows 291 people had died in the area by December 20 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there have been two deaths in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 19,010 deaths recorded across the South East.

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

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

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 four in five people in Mid Sussex have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 111,531 people had received both jabs by December 19 (Sunday) – 81% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 82% 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.