Two more Covid deaths recorded in Sheffield this week as rate of infection rises higher than average

The number of coronavirus cases in Sheffield increased by 293 in the 24 hours between Monday December 13 and Tuesday December 14, official figures show – and two more deaths were recorded.

A total of 97,259 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Sheffield when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on December 14, up from 96,966 on Monday.

The rate of infection in Sheffield now stands at 16,507 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 16,402.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 59,077 over the period, to 10,932,545.

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

The dashboard shows 1,343 people had died in the area by December 14 – up from 1,341 on Monday.

It means there have been six deaths in the past week, which is a decrease on eight the previous week.

The six deaths were among 13,012 deaths recorded across Yorkshire and The Humber.

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

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

The figures come as city health services race to vaccinate residents with a third booster jab to protect against the new Omicron variant of Covid-19.

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

The latest figures show 382,554 people had received both jabs by December 13 (Monday) – 71 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 81 per cent 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.