Tens of thousands of coronavirus infections identified in Bassetlaw so far, new figures show

Tens of thousands of Covid-19 infections have been identified in Bassetlaw since the pandemic began, figures show, as reinfections are included in official statistics for the first time.

Since yesterday, the UK Health Security Agency has changed the way it reports coronavirus cases.

It means if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded.

The change has led to a significant rise in the number of cases recorded across the UK.

A total of 32,285 cases had been confirmed in Bassetlaw when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Monday.

That was up from 30,219 on Friday, when reinfections were not included in the figures.

The rate of infection in Bassetlaw now stands at 27,295 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 26,252.

Across the UK, 17,315,893 coronavirus infections have been recorded since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 981,913 compared to Friday.

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 were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Bassetlaw.

The dashboard shows 287 people had died in the area by January 31 – up from 285 on Friday.

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

They were among 12,365 deaths recorded across the East Midlands.

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

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

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

The latest figures show 87,895 people had received both jabs by January 30 – 81 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 84 per cent 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.