THE number of coronavirus cases in Oldham increased by 179 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 75,717 cases had been confirmed in Oldham when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Tuesday, up from 75,538 on Monday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Oldham, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 31,864 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 30,401.

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 94,297 over the period, to 20,413,731.

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

The dashboard shows 818 people had died in the area by March 22 (Tuesday) – up from 816 on Monday.

It means there have been four deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 23,025 deaths recorded across the North West.

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

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

The figures also show that half of people in Oldham have received a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 108,479 people had received a booster or third dose by March 21 (Monday) – 51 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

A total of 155,358 people (72 per cent) had received two jabs by that date.

Across England, 67 per cent of people aged 12 and above had received a booster.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.