THE number of coronavirus cases in South Somerset increased by 253 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 30,570 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Somerset when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 26, up from 30,317 on Tuesday.

The rate of infection in South Somerset now stands at 18,121 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 24,284.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 101,603 over the period, to 16,149,319.

People with a positive lateral flow test no longer need to take a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they have coronavirus symptoms.

UK case numbers currently only include LFT results for England and Northern Ireland, with lateral flow testing data for Scotland due to be added in the coming weeks.

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

The dashboard shows 222 people had died in the area by January 26 (Wednesday) – up from 221 on Tuesday.

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

They were among 8,637 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.

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