A TOTAL of 17,008 people have had COVID-19 in St Helens by the start of this week since the pandemic started, the latest figures show.

The figures come after Public Health England changed the way it recorded the figures from Friday, which resulted in the removal of more than 8,000 cases from the UK running total.

The number of positive cases reported in St Helens by 9am on Monday (April 12) was 24 lower than it was on Thursday.

Cases that are identified through a positive lateral flow test – those which can deliver results within half an hour – will no longer be counted if the person then takes a PCR test, which is sent to a lab to be checked, and receives a negative result within three days.

This change in methodology saw 8,010 cases stripped from the UK cumulative total at the end of last week.

Overall, the cumulative rate of infection in St Helens since the start of the pandemic now stands at 9,418 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the England average of 6,791.

Across the UK by Monday there had been 4,373,343 cases.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are asymptomatic, currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.

Meanwhile, St Helens has vaccinated the highest proportion of its population in the city region.

In St Helens there have been 99,295 people receiving vaccinations (55.0% of the population).

Meanwhile, St Helens and Knowsley were among three boroughs in the region which recorded no Covid-related deaths at all in the week leading up to April 2.

The region’s care homes also saw no Covid deaths for the first time in more than six months.