THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 97 in 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 33,571 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 3 (Tuesday), up from 33,474 on Monday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 10,439 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 9,191.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 21,466 over the period, to 5,923,820.

There were also two more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Dudley.

The dashboard shows 790 people had died in the area by August 3 (Tuesday) – up from 788 on Monday.

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

They were among 13,715 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.

The figures also show that nearly three-quarters of people in Dudley have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 186,332 people had received both jabs by August 2 (Monday) – 71% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 73% of people aged 18 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.