THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 240 in 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 31,390 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated yesterday (Tuesday July 20), up from 31,150 on Monday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 9,761 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 8,550.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 46,125 over the period, to 5,519,602.

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

The dashboard shows 784 people had died in the area by Tuesday July 20 – which was unchanged from Monday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 13,614 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 Dudley.

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 two-thirds of people in Dudley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 177,904 people had received both jabs by July 19 (Monday) – 67% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 69% of people aged 18 and above had received a second dose of the jab.