THE number of coronavirus cases in Bromsgrove increased by 177 in the last 24 hours, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 23,109 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Bromsgrove when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 14 (Friday), up from 22,932 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Bromsgrove now stands at 22,978 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 22,576.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 98,578 over the period, to 15,066,395.

People with a positive lateral flow test no longer need to take a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they have coronavirus symptoms.

UK case numbers currently only include LFT results for England and Northern Ireland, with lateral flow testing data for Scotland due to be added in the coming weeks.

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

The dashboard shows 288 people had died in the area by January 14 (Friday) – up from 287 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 15,739 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 Bromsgrove.

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

The figures also show that more than four in five people in Bromsgrove have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 74,928 people had received both jabs by January 13 (Thursday) – 83% 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.