THE number of coronavirus cases in South Somerset increased by 67 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 9,457 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Somerset when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 27 (Friday), up from 9,390 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in South Somerset now stands at 5,606 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 10,241.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 37,690 over the period, to 6,666,399.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in South Somerset.

The dashboard shows 170 people had died in the area by August 27 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

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

They were among 7,046 deaths recorded across the South West.

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

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.

The figures also show that four in five people in South Somerset have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 117,817 people had received both jabs by August 26 (Thursday) – 80% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 78% 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.