The number of coronavirus cases in the Forest of Dean increased by 336 over the weekend, official figures show – and one more death was recorded.

A total of 15,294 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in the Forest of Dean when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 24 (Monday), up from 14,958 on Friday.

The rate of infection in the Forest of Dean now stands at 17,558 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 23,976.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 244,626 over the period, to 15,953,685.

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 over the weekend in the Forest of Dean.

The dashboard shows 134 people had died in the area by January 24 (Monday) – up from 133 on Friday.

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

They were among 8,587 deaths recorded across the South West.

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

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

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.

The figures also show that nearly nine in 10 people in the Forest of Dean have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 67,462 people had received both jabs by January 23 (Sunday) – 85% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 84% 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.