THE number of Covid cases in Southampton increased by 537 in 24 hours, official figures show – and three more deaths were recorded.

A total of 51,650 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Southampton when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated yesterday, January 7.

The rate of infection in Southampton now stands at 20,425 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 21,235.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 178,163 over the period, to 14,193,228.

There were also three more coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Southampton.

The dashboard shows 402 people had died in the area by January 7 (Friday) – up from 399 on Thursday.

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

They were among 19,269 deaths recorded across the South East.

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

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

The figures also show that two-thirds of people in Southampton have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 163,681 people had received both jabs by January 6 (Thursday) – 67% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83% 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.