A TOTAL of 54 people tested positive for coronavirus across Dorset over the weekend, official figures show.

There were 13 new recorded cases in the Dorset Council area and 41 in the Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole (BCP) area.

Public Health England figures show that 770 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Monday in Dorset, up from 757 the same time on Friday.

Meanwhile 1,186 people had been confirmed as testing positive in the BCP area, up from 1,145 the same time on Friday.

The rate of infection in the Dorset Council area now stands at 203 cases per 100,000 people and at 300 in the BCP area, far lower than the England average of 670.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 15,777 over the period, to 439,013.

Dorset's cases were among the 17,566 recorded across the South West, a figure which rose by 393 over the period.

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

The health body is now including Pillar 2 tests – those carried out by commercial partners – alongside Pillar 1 tests, which are analysed in NHS or PHE laboratories and which made up the first stage of the Government's mass testing programme