THERE have been 479 newly-confirmed coronavirus cases around Swindon in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 46,210 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Swindon when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on January 12 (Wednesday), up from 45,731 on Tuesday.

The rate of infection in Swindon now stands at 20,733 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 22,256.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 129,544 over the period, to 14,862,138.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Swindon.

The dashboard shows 332 people had died in the area by January 12, which was unchanged from Tuesday.

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

They were among 8,439 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 Swindon.

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.

The figures show that four in five people in Swindon have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 164,216 people had received both jabs by January 11 (Tuesday) – 79 per cent of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 83 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.