THE number of coronavirus cases in Shropshire increased by 228 up to Tuesday, September 21, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 26,921 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Shropshire when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated Tuesday, up from 26,693 on Monday.

The rate of infection in Shropshire now stands at 8,273 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 11,315.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 31,095 over the period, to 7,496,543.

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

The dashboard shows 593 people had died in the area by September 21 (Tuesday) – up from 592 on Monday.

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

They were among 14,298 deaths recorded across the West Midlands.

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

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 Shropshire have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 233,541 people had received both jabs by September 20 (Monday) – 83 per cent of those aged 16 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 82 per cent of people aged 16 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.