MORE than 2,000 people have tested positive for Covid in Dorset in the last 24 hours, figures show.

A total of 1,058 cases were recorded in the BCP Council area on Saturday, January 1, with 1,008 confirmed in wider Dorset.

This means, since the start of the pandemic, 78,845 have been recorded across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, with 56,144 in the Dorset Council area.

Read more: Number of Covid hospital patients falling across BCP area

Over the past seven days, 4,593 tests have been returned across the conurbation with 3,284 cases in the rest of the country.

The rate per 100,000 people was 1,157 in BCP and 864.7 in Dorset.

Elsewhere, 410 new cases have been confirmed in the New Forest, bringing the total number of cases since March 2020 to 26,655.

Read more: Covid cases across BCP and Dorset “the highest they have ever been”

Over the last seven days, 1,741 have been reported giving a rate of 969.1.

Nationally, a further 162,572 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been recorded in England as of 9am on Saturday, the Government said, a new record for daily reported cases in England.

The Government said a further 154 people had died in England within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 174,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.