FEWER than 250 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded across Dorset within the last 24-hour period, according to the latest figures.

The latest Government figures show 243 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the county in the 24 hours leading up to 4pm on Tuesday, September 21.

In the Dorset Council area, 126 new cases were reported. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 24,717 cases confirmed across this area.

Over the latest rolling seven-day period for the Dorset Council area, there have been 896 Covid-19 cases, with a case rate of 235.9 per 100,000 people.

There has been a total of 117 new cases recorded across the BCP Council area, taking the total number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic to 44,349.

The rolling seven-day period for the BCP is 859 cases, with a case rate of 216.4 per 100,000 people.

During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been 69,066 cases of Covid-19 confirmed across Dorset.

Elsewhere, the New Forest area recorded 70 new coronavirus cases. The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic stands within the New Forest at 11,799.

The seven-day total for New Forest is 340 with a case rate of 189.3 per 100,000 people.

Across the UK, there has been a total of 31,564 new cases. There have been 7,496,543 confirmed cases recorded in the UK since the start of the pandemic.