THE number of coronavirus cases in Dudley increased by 1,409 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 70,559 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Dudley when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated today(Wednesday January 5, up from 69,150 on Tuesday.

The rate of infection in Dudley now stands at 21,888 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 20,701.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 193,814 over the period, to 13,835,334.

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

The dashboard shows 887 people had died in the area by January 5 – up from 886 on Tuesday – since the pandemic began.

It means there have been two deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on three the previous week. They were among 15,530 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.

Today’s death figures include a backlog of hospital deaths reported overnight by NHS England, covering the period January 1 to 4.