Coronavirus infections increase in all but THREE areas, figures show
CORONAVIRUS infections have gone up in all but three areas of England, new figures show.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Luton and Wolverhampton recorded a fall in Covid-19 cases in the last week.
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Public Health England data shows that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had the biggest drop in the country, which cases falling by 33.34 per cent.
Based on data between September 28 and October 4, the local authority area now has a case rate of 20.8 per 100,000 people, compared to 31.2 in the previous week.
In Luton, Bedfordshire, the Covid-19 weekly case rate has dropped 4.3 per cent from 53.7 to 51.4 per 100,000 people.
Wolverhampton, which is currently under local lockdown measures, has also recorded a small dip of 1.6 per cent – from 70.2 to 69.1 per 100,000.
Infections have gone up in every other authority in England – including all of those facing tougher restrictions to stop the spread of Covid-19.
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Separate analysis of the data by the Press Association shows that Nottingham is now the Covid hotspot with the highest rate in England.
The East Midlands city recorded 2,294 new cases in the seven days to October 5 – the equivalent of 689.1 cases per 100,000 people.
This is a steep jump from 122.3 per 100,000 in the seven days to September 28.
Knowsley has the second highest rate, which has jumped from 365.2 to 601.2, with 907 new cases.
Liverpool is in third place, where the rate has also increased sharply, from 387.9 to 578.7 with 2,882 new cases.
Other areas recording big jumps in their seven-day rates include Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sheffield and Exeter.
North/South divide
It comes as a major study today revealed Covid infections are doubling every fortnight in the Midlands and Yorkshire – twice as fast as the rest of England.
There are now 45,000 new cases daily across the country, according to Imperial College London experts.
Scientists calculate it is now taking 29 days for coronavirus infections to double nationally.
But London is bucking the trend, with cases beginning to fall.
The findings are based on swabs of 175,000 volunteers between September 18 and October 5.
The experts behind the React study said the country is now at a “critical point in the second wave”.
But said the latest restrictions are having some impact, with the speed of spread slowing in the past month.
The R rate – how many other individuals each case goes on to infect – has fallen to 1.16 nationally. It was 1.39 in early September.
But Yorkshire and The Humber, the West Midlands and the North West are faring much worse than other parts of England.
All of their R rates are between 1.27 and 1.37.
In contrast, it is below one in London, meaning the number of cases are currently falling in the capital.
Researchers think higher levels of immunity and better adherence may explain the lower rates.
Government scientists put the current R value for the whole of the UK at between 1.2 and 1.5.
This is down slightly on last week when it was between 1.3 and 1.6.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said it was “almost certain that the epidemic continues to grow exponentially across the country, and is confident that the transmission is not slowing.”
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Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate the infection rate is ten-times higher in some part of England.
It estimates one in 100 people in the North East had the bug in the week ending October 1, compared to just one in 1,000 in the South East.
Their survey shows new infections more than doubled nationwide from 8,400 a day in the week to September 24 to 17,200 a week later.