THERE'S been another steep rise in the number of Covid cases in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and two new deaths according to the latest figures issued by the government.

The rise comes as the government is expected to announce a delay in the date of the so-called Freedom Day on June 21.

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Yesterday's update saw 69 new positive cases reported. A fall slightly on the Friday's figure of 82. But today the number of Covid cases in Cornwall has leapt up to 106 with the weekly cases, which are on a delay, have risen by 40 to 110 in the seven days leading up to June 8 – the last five days not showing due to incomplete data – marking another significant rise from 71 yesterday.

This puts the overall total of cases in Cornwall since the start of the pandemic at 14,622.

However there has been another slight fall in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, with 7,490 new cases in 24 hours. Yesterday it was 7,738. This takes the total to 4,565,813 nationally since the start of the pandemic.

NHS England hospital daily figures are now being published every weekday, rather than every day.

However, Friday's data showed one new death in Cornwall, with the combined number of Covid-19 deaths in total in the Duchy's hospitals since the start of the pandemic now 266.

It follows a death that was recorded on Thursday (June 10), at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and then published in the figures the following day.

There have now been 204 deaths at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, while at the Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust it remains at 62.

The overall number of deaths in Cornwall – including deaths in care homes and other settings – still shows 470 in the 28 days after a positive test on the government dashboard, due to a difference in reporting time.

But the number of deaths simply with Covid-19 on the death certificate now stands at 572 in the most recent data available, as this figure is updated weekly on a Tuesday. It showed two new deaths in the week leading up to Friday, May 28, the most recent date given.

The overall UK figures show that 8 further people have died within 28 days of their first positive test result, up from seven yesterday. This means the total UK deaths within 28 days since the start of the pandemic stands at 127,904. These figures include people in care home and other settings.

Up to the end of Friday, June 11 a total of 41,551,201 people in the UK have received their first Covid-19 vaccination dose, while 29,792,658 people have had their second dose.