703 further coronavirus cases in South Lanarkshire

The number of coronavirus cases in South Lanarkshire increased by 703 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 28,408 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Lanarkshire when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 23 (Monday), up from 27,705 on Friday.

The rate of infection in South Lanarkshire now stands at 8,855 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the Scotland average of 7,073.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 95,434 over the period, to 6,524,581.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in South Lanarkshire.

The dashboard shows 661 people had died in the area by August 23 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

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

They were among 8,070 deaths recorded across Scotland.

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

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

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 South Lanarkshire have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 224,603 people had received both jabs by August 22 (Sunday) – 87% of those aged 18 and over, based on mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Across Scotland, 79% of people aged 16 and above had received a second dose of the jab.