Three more people die with coronavirus as 2,948 new cases counted

It is the second day in a row that the number of cases as increased by nearly 3,000.

Three more people have died with coronavirus, bringing the UK’s death toll to 41,554.

There were also 2,948 new confirmed cases of the virus recorded in the 24 hours previous, bringing the UK’s total to 305,100. There are currently 756 patients in hospital with Covid-19, with 69 of those requiring a ventilator, government data revealed.

England reported four deaths with Covid-19 across hospital settings, all of which happened on September 5. Scotland and Wales recorded no new hospital deaths, while Northern Ireland is yet to release their figures.

The number of coronavirus cases in the UK have been steadily rising since August, with 2,988 new infections reported on Sunday. Brits have now been urged to ensure they keep following social distancing rules.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday’s daily increase, which is the largest since mid-May, was ‘concerning’. He went on: ‘The cases are predominantly among younger people, but we’ve seen in other countries across the world and in Europe, this sort of rise in cases among younger people leads to a rise across the population as a whole.

‘It’s so important that people don’t allow this illness to infect their grandparents and to lead to the sort of problems we saw earlier in the year. It’s so important that everybody does their bit and follows the social distancing.’

Five boroughs in Greater Manchester have now been placed on ‘red alert’ this week after recording the highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the height of the pandemic.

Infection rates in Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Salford and Tameside are now above the government’s local lockdown threshold of 50 cases per 100,000 people.

According to the latest available data, 283 positive coronavirus cases were recorded in Greater Manchester on September 2. This is the highest number recorded since April 29 when 328 cases were recorded during lockdown.

In Bolton, the infection rate has now increased to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week – the highest in England.

Rochdale, which saw a rate of 49.5 cases per 100,000 at the end of last week, is also at risk of entering the alert zone, but along with Trafford, hasn’t seen infection rates rise on the previous seven days.

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