THE number of coronavirus cases in Sedgemoor increased by 118 on Friday February 18, official figures show.

A total of 30,080 cases had been confirmed in Sedgemoor when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on February 18 (Friday), up from 29,962 on Thursday.

The cumulative rate of infection in Sedgemoor, which covers the whole pandemic, stands at 24,367 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 27,946.

Since January 31, the UK Health Security Agency has changed the way it reports coronavirus cases.

It means if one person tests positive for the virus more than 90 days after the first infection, two infection episodes will be recorded.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 47,147 over the period, to 18,546,205.

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 now include LFT results for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Sedgemoor.

The dashboard shows 226 people had died in the area by February 18 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

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

They were among 9,051 deaths recorded across the South West.